Exalted!

So, semi-canonicly, their is a Celestine for the starry-sky, Nox. The other Celestines are of course the patrons of the Celestial Exalted, Sol Invictus, Luna and the Five Maiden. Nox however, was loyal to the Primordial so he had his mind broken and bound to the weaves of Fate. But if he were to wake up a little and send out Exaltations himself, what could they be like?

Here's my take: They would be the Stellar Exalted. Seeing as the stars are generally associated with horoscopes and seeing the future and divining other information, Exaltation comes from divining some great truth or secret of the way of things thus their name, the Enlightened.

They would be without caste, Nox is to insane to organize them anyway. In place of a caste mark is a third eye filled with images of their Enlightenment and their anima filled with other sensory inputs of that Enlightenment. IE, one who's Enlightenment came from divining the secrets of war would have a third eye in which eternal battle is fought and an anima that made the sounds and smells of battle come to life.

Each is limited in their potential, bound by the nature of their Enlightenment. How this could work rule wise, I could not venture but I like my fluff. I like fluff at all.

edited 23rd Dec '10 8:13:22 PM by GodofAwesome

I personally just rather like the sound of Stellar Exalted. "Yeah that Exalt over there, he's totaly Stellar."

Fixed my trope link in my last post. Didn't notice it was broken.

Anywho, the only mechanic I can think of is that a Stellar Exalt could choose from 1-3 skills and have access to all the associated charms. IE, the Enlightened of war would have access to all the charms of war that other exalts have.

And for Christmas, the monkeys have given us: a ludicrously OP terrestrial martial art.

Hmm.

I'm assured steps are being taken to tone it down just a tad.

Yup. Dean turned up in the thread (he must've waded through all the vitriol!) saying they were gonna change the Extra Action Charm to something else, tone down the form, and I believe drop the pinnacle a little, too.

More monkeying around!

New charms for...*checks*...pretty much everyone.

And a new Monkey as well.

edited 26th Dec '10 12:22:23 AM by Zomric

I suppose the proper term would be 'Simian Exaltation'.

Just kidding.

So, our ST has decides that this is what Shoat of the Mire looks like in his campaign.

This is going to be interesting.

edited 28th Dec '10 10:39:21 AM by Xeniph

Goth Nanoha as Shoat of the Mire? I think your setting has already ended.

HOLY COW TDO'S A MONKEYLANCER.

Refering to Godof Awesome's Stellar Exalts idea, their magical material should be adamant, since it the only magical material to my knowledge that doesn't have a bond with an exalt type.

True, except for Adamant Caste Alchemicals.

My personal theory is that the Adamants, alone among the Alchemicals, are not a prototype, but a finished product- the Exalted of Autochthon Himself, hence the requirement for a strong faith in he Maker to catalyse one. They're the Adamant-attuning Exalted.

(Just puttin' it out there, no reason it can't be the Stellars.)

Adamant is supposedly a very rare thing in Creation.

It comes in exceedingly small deposits, so small as to be good perhaps for only one weapon. However, it has become associate with the Stellar Exalted because of their 'Enlightenment'. They say the stars show them the way where such deposit may be and the secret ways to smelt it or how to manufacture it. This appears to be a one time event and not every Stellar Exalt is so blessed, so Adamant weapon continue to be rare.

There's also that the physical boundary of Yu-Shan is made of Adamant. Except for Autochthonia's Godhead and Yu-Shan, Adamant is basically unseen in Creation...

Though, I think the Mountain Folk had a way of creating them from mundane diamond.

And I think one of the pinnacle Mountain Folk charms let them create it out of thin air, so I wouldn't think they're in any great need for it.

@Xeniph: Oh dear holy Sol in Yu-Shan Creation is fucked.

The thing about the adamant caste Alchemicals though, is that every other Alchemical caste "resonates" with another type of Exalt. Even the Alchemicals book points this out, and poses the theory that there was supposed to be another exalt type. It seems to leave the identity and nature of the unknown exalts to the Storyteller, as well as what happened to them. Personally, I think the Stellar Exalts sound perfect for the role.

1E suggested the idea of the Heroic Exalted — a mass-production template Autochthon had in mind but never bothered to deploy considering how powerful the Terrestrial and Celestial Exalted were. They drew Essence from their own being (or their dedication to Creation in some fanon) and were supposed to more-or-less occur with heroic mortals (duh) who refused to depend on others. Their powerlevel was somewhere between Terrestrial and Enlightened mortals; the impression was that they were basically the latter with Charms.

In the scenario where this idea was brought up, Autochthon decided to introduce them to Creation seeing as how the Exalted got screwed up and having temporary mass-production Exalts would help fix them. I think "help" in Creation means "scale things up a little."

Some people like this idea (including me) as they could fill the role of xias in Wuxia flicks and novels — powerful but mundane heroes empathizing more on guts and hard work than divine backing (if you consider achieving Heroic Exaltation as unlocking the secrets of Qi with meditation and kung fu...). Of course, many opposed to the idea since there would be too many Exalts in Creation with this. So, shrug.

Oh, and they were supposed to employ Adamant, which at the time was supposed to be more potent than most M Ms.

(Addendum: I've been tinkering with an idea for a galactic Creation — maybe the invention of the Heroic Exalted leads to rapid conquest of the Wyld, defusing the geomancy of Creation and splitting the land into planetoids? The original idea had a total reconstruction of the setting, so this might be easier. >_>)

edited 30th Dec '10 2:34:24 AM by sz

Fun one, and I definitely like the idea of them like Xia- though you can do that with Enlightened martial artists, can't you?

You could — but, for some reason, being limited to TMA seems nearly pathetic despite how impressively powerful they would be in a wuxia setting.

...hrm. Maybe they have access to some generic Charms such as the Excellencies, Ox-Body Technique, TM As and a single Celestial Martial Arts that they choose upon Exaltation. Sort of like their ultimate kung fu secret and whatnot.

Actually, there aren't enough SEKRIT TECHNIQUES full stop. Definitely something I'd like to see added to the game.

Ok, while I was in the shower I worked out some vague ideas for the mundane Exalted — might as well be called the Xias since that's where I'm getting the ideas from.

On the scale of Exalted power level, they rank along with or a little below the Dragon-Blooded, being the other Terrestrial Exalts. Though they attain divine constitution of Essence users, they are not given extended life spans, thus limiting their Essence cap at 5 (usually). Still, that is leagues powerful than what any heroic mortals can attain, barring divine intervention.

Charms-wise, they are specifically limited. They have accesses to some generic Charms, such as the Excellencies (dice cap at Essence + Specialty), Ox-Body Techniques and mote pool expanders. On top of that, they may learn special, unique Charms based off of their Specialties — thus limiting the number of Charms per each Ability except MA at 3. These are Essence-fueled manifestations of the dedication the Xias put in their craft; it's more specific than the Charm technology of other Essence users, but they come naturally to these Exalts. The main core of their Exalted power, however, lies with their affinity for supernatural martial arts.

For most part, Xias' mastery of supernatural martial arts is comparable to the Dragon-Blooded — they may learn Terrestrial Martial Arts easily and can also invent them with effort. However, they can learn only one Celestial Martial Arts style, which corresponds strongly with their Essence. The CMA style becomes somewhat like the anima banner of other Exalts, being a representation of their spirit. However, what makes them especially powerful martial artists is that they have far more flexibility with these techniques than anyone else with the exception of the Sidereals.

Even if a MA style is not native to the Heroic Exalts, they can develop new Charms within the style as they internalize and develop an intimate understanding of the style like none other. For each MA style, including both Terrestrial and Celestial, the Xias may invent (Essence) Charms that follow the styles' theme and remain in the similar domain. These secret techniques are extensions of the Exalt's personal and supernatural development — they have the Native tag, meaning no other Exalts can learn them. There's also that, unless witnessed, nobody has any awareness of them, which often is a major asset in the martial arts world.

...and now I'm tinkering with an idea for the Xias further eclipsing other Exalts in terms of MA. Maybe if they can gain enough favors and horde enough resources to achieve superhuman longevity and achieve Essence 7/8, they could learn Sidereal Martial Arts? Even though this would be a vanishingly rare case, it might be pushing their power level a little too high. Still, the idea of Sidereals engineering an Exalt's entire life to create a cannon (made of mathematical axioms and concepts of governance) fodder amuses me... Or, alternatively, they could learn a new CMA style for each Essence dot beyond 5. Hrm.

Well the original idea behind the Enlightened was they would have no godly backing (I actually made a thread long ago with that in mind). They just Exalted from the sheer force of what they uncovered. But then I read up on Nox and thought Stellar Exalted would be better.

The idea behind the Xias is also cool. That you could perhaps scale their power level any which way to make them the inferiors of the Dragon Blooded to the equals of Sidereals. And their Heroic Mortals. OMG, it's Dn D going all the way past epic level.

Speaking of which — wouldn't Nocturnal be a better name? "Nox" is the root form of that word...