Critical Failures Presents:The Scarlet Empress has disappeared.
Without her leadership, the Realm that protected Creation is failing.
The Great Dynastic Houses, legacy of the Empress,
squabble over the scraps fallen from her table.
And now, they seek the greatest prize of all.
The Scarlet Throne and The Sword of Creation.
Heroes of the Legions return to make their bid for it.
Bureaucrats shuffle papers to increase their political status.
Criminals steal, lie, and kill to affirm their House's position.
The Blessed Isle is the center of the Realm.
The Realm is the center of Creation
And the Realm divided,
Will fall.
EXALTED War For The Throne is a PbP game to be set in the Critical Failures forum, right here.
It will be played using the Exalted Second Edition rules, along with the Manual of Exalted Power: Dragon-Blooded. The setting is the Blessed Isle, covered in the first volume of the Compass of Celestial Directions.
The mood for the game is gritty. This isn't a game about Exalted's heroin-pissing dinosaurs, it's a game about betrayal, morals, power that wasn't meant to be in the hands of those who hold it, forbidden loves, warring Houses, noble heroes, and all those fun things.
There aren't going to be Celestial Exalted making appearances and blowing up the world, there aren't going to be Fair Folk invasions or armies of undead. The cast's actions at a banquet may be more important than any battle. Combat is brutal, there's no 'win' buttons for the Terrestrials unlike their Celestial cousins.
The members of this grand play?
Leshan, as Ledaal Kasai,
The Sapphire Storm
INNS, as Ragara Adina,
Polished Jade
Cynic Jester as Mnemon Duriel,
Smoldering Eye
Thanatos as Iselsi Leovin,
Death Flies From the Shadows
Arcanis, as V'neef Celia,
Toxic Thorn
Posts
Dynastic houses: Your character must be from one of the Houses, otherwise they won't have the political influence necessary to gain the Throne or a position of power.
Each house is Aspected towards a different element, but Exaltations to different Aspects do occur. Don't worry about it too much. Tepet Ejava, the Roseblack, is one of the most
popular Dragon-Bloods, and she's Wood in an air house.
Schools: Every Dynast goes to school. Each school has a different focus, and provides different training.
You get two free specialties in Skills that your School trains, so a Heptagram graduate can place two specialties in Lore, Occult, or Linguistics without paying BP or Experience.
Skills/Charms selection: Combat in this game isn't going to be rare, and there's probably going to be a war or two. But there's also a lot of political intrigue, and other skills could be crucial.
Martial Arts: Terrestrial Styles are allowed, including the ones from Scroll of the Monk. Celestial styles are not. No Immaculates, please.
Backgrounds: Especially relating to Artifacts, your character needs to have a reason for having their Backgrounds. Every Daiklave has a story, every Manse is owned by someone, every dot of Breeding means you're close to the Empress.
Try and figure out why your character has their Backgrounds, and what the history behind them is.
Backstory: Come up with something good. Really good. Collaborate with other people to create friendships and alliances. Figure out why your character wants what they want.
Experience: Everyone starts with 125 experience. Newbie DBs would get swallowed alive at this period, so you have a bit of time to grow. This, of course, is all spent AFTer character creation. Try and keep track of where you put your XP and tack it on to the bottom of your sheet for me.
All sheets/backstories should be PM'ed to me, too. Post them in the thread if you want, but make sure you send them to me.
This post will get replaced by the cast once they're chosen.
One post a day, minimum. Two or three is far better. I've got a reasonable record for long-running games, and I want this one to flourish.
PvP is allowed, but not encouraged. Political plotting to get your opponents on the way to the Throne removed is encouraged, and any of that can be handled through PMs with me.
Speaking of plotting and intrigue, this game isn't entirely traditional. Everyone in the Realm is trying to get the Throne, or place someone they want on the Throne.
It's only natural that there will be player conflict, and if you want to plot and plan intrigue, feel free.
Metagaming will get you smote by the Immaculate Order, though, so try and avoid it.
The game will start in a week or two, depending on how long it takes for people to get what they need.
Rules clarifications and other stuff will end up here, too. Any questions that you don't want to ask on the forum can be directed to me via AIM, my username is Raing3l
Addendum: For char creation, Anathema is really useful, especially for Dragon-Bloods, if you have a hard time keeping track of bonus points and XP.
Addendum 2: For Crafting, I'm going to make it Specialty-based. Basically, without a specialty in the type of craft required, you suffer a -3 unskilled penalty to your Craft roll.
With one Specialty in the appropriate Craft, you go to no penalty, two is a +1 bonus, and three is +3.
You can have as many Craft specialties as you want.
Addendum 3: As far as stories and intrigues and backhistories go, I am a lenient ST. Your first assumption should be 'yes I can do this' not 'I should ask Rainfall first.' If you start going off-track I'll mention it here in the OOC thread, but feel free to invent shared histories with NPCs and plot amongst each other.
On the other hand, remember not to godplay. You can't read thoughts, and the other PCs might have ideas that you don't.
So very seriously tempted.
Posting every day might be difficult, though.
Since you're so awesome and stuff.
I gotta see how my schedule is for the month, but damn, this would be awesome to do.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
I am putting together an Earth aspect sheet~
Motivation: Put a V’neef endorsed candidate on the throne (her mother, herself, or someone else with V’neef’s interests at heart)
Attributes:
Strength ooo
Dexterity ooooo
Stamina oo
Charisma oooo
Manipulation o
Appearance ooooo
Perception oo
Intelligence ooo
Wits ooo
Archery* ooooo (Powerbows +3)
Medicine* oooo
Survival* oo
Athletics* oooo
Dodge* ooooo
Socialize ooo
Ride* o
Presence* oooo (Persuasion +1)
Integrity oo
Resistance o
Lore oo
Linguistics oo
Stealth oo
War ooo (Small Units +1)
Martial Arts o
Melee o
Awareness ooo
Backgrounds
Breeding ooooo
Artifact ooo (Jade long powerbow)
Artifact oo (hearthstone bracers [-1 speed])
Artifact o (chain shirt)
Reputation ooo
Manse oooo (eight levels of hearthstone)(jewel of the flying heart o [+1 dodge DV], gladestalker’s stone ooo [+3 Accuracy and damage with a bow], song of life stone oooo [page 101 of oadenol's codex])(the gladestalker and the life stone are socketed in the bow, the flying heart in the bracers)
Weapons
Rose’s Barb (Speed 4, Acc 17, 9L, Rate 3)
11L with broadheads
11B with fowling
13L with frogcrotch, double soak
9L with targets but halve soak
PDV n/a
DDV 11
Soak 6L/5B Hardness 2L/2B
Charms
First Archery Excellency
First Dodge Excellency
Dragon-graced Arrow
Swallows Defend the Nest
Harvest of the Hunter
Safety Among Enemies
Threshold Warding Stance
Hopping Firecracker Evasion
Infection Banishing Prana
Disease-Banishing Technique
Wound-closing Touch
Auspicious First Meeting Attitude
Essence oooo
Personal 16
Peripheral 39 (12 committed)
Willpower 7
Virtues
Compassion oooo
Conviction oo
Temperance o
Valor ooo
Languages
High Realm
Old Realm
Low Realm
Hls
-0 o
-1 ooo
-2 ooo
-4 o
Incap ooo
1/125 exp left
(spent 50 exp on essence, 50 exp on charms, 24 exp on miscellaneous attributes (a virtue dot, an app dot, a dot of wits, a presence dot, three dots of awareness)
Backstory and fluffery:
Graduating with impressive marks from the House of Bells (in a way this is surprising as a member of House V'neef that she did not train to further the mercantile interests of the House, instead opting for a command position in one of the legions). Indeed, in the House of Bells she was remarkably close to Tepet Ejava due to their similar dispositions. Thus, when she heard of House Tepet’s crushing defeat at the hands of the Anathema in the North, Celia was deeply saddened by her friend’s loss of status. Of course, it upset Celia even more when her mother had to make the decision to cut off all negotiations of intermarriage between the two houses. At this point in time she threw herself into her duties, earning her the name Toxic Thorn on the field of battle due to her great skill with a bow and leadership.
After her mandatory service ended, Celia returned home to the Isle to help further the house's goals through favor-garnering. As one of V’neef’s scions and possessed of pure-blood, Celia has received countless offers of marriage, but has yet to seriously entertain any of the offers. Like her mother, she believes in purity of blood, and so she is simply waiting for the right kind of offer.
In terms of personality, Celia is compassionate and cares a great deal for her family and house as well as the Realm. She is a Princess of the Earth who sees the Dragon-blooded Mandate as one that protects those who cannot protect themselves. However, due to her privileged status and purity of blood she is often convinced that she knows exactly what is best for those around her and will try to steer people on that course of action (always with their well-being in mind, of course).
Celia is a strikingly beautiful young woman with all of the classic traits that belie her nature as a Wood aspect Exalt. Her hair is green and leafy, with a stray flower that always grows over her left ear and changes with the seasons. Her eyes are a deep verdant, her skin is pale green, and her lips match her eyes.
To offset this she often tries to incorporate reds and orange into her clothing, and pink when at formal gatherings (of which there are many). Her combat gear is an ornate custom-forged Jade powerbow which she has lovingly named Rose’s Barb. She also wears a set of bracers called the Bindings of Ivy, and her chain shirt is a deep green as well.
I don't have the time to play in this on top of all the other things I'm doing (that and purely political games tend to put me to sleep .) but I will be following the game with great interest.
Eh?
Since the Heptagram and the House of Bells didn't get any bonuses as opposed to the other two, I made up my own.
also Salt and I will be friends, two semi-social butterflies
Unfortunately, as you already know from my participation in the other game, my time constraints can be erratic. On the upside, I HAVE actually picked up a few more books, and have gotten a better handle on things now.
I'm going to start work on a couple of ideas, just in case you're direly lacking a player. PbP, I think, would suit my timing better than IRC... especially since I generally have a couple of hours of "dead time" every day at different times every day, which is perfect for PbP play.
And hell, even if I don't join, you can bet I'll be watching. Political games are my deepest love when it comes to my RP.
Hope it goes well, Rainfall. Despite all my screwups in the other game, I found your ST style to be delightful. It certainly had nothin' to do with you, why I had to bow out.
See you around.
I am wondering how broad/specific Connections should be; examples in the book are, for example, 'Military' and 'Intelligence'. Could you have Connections (High Society)?
I'll toss up the sheet once I'm done with all the other stuff I'm editing/writing.
And in case of casualties, of course.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
edit: Or for that matter, are you open to suggestions on custom charms? My character won't have any at submission, but at the moment I'm thinking of making a thrown-monkey and while dragon-blooden thrown charms are nice there aren't that many of them compared to Melee and MA.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
Yes, yes they do. Send it over to me if you want a review.
Are the patrician houses separate families that simply serve the Dynasts? If a child born into a patrician family Exalted would they be allowed to take on the name of the Great House their family served?
The Realm is set up in a sort-of class system. Patricians are the middle class while Dynasts would be the noble class. It's a matter of genealogy and not exalted-ness. There's non-Exalted members of the Eleven Great Houses, and Exaltations pop up amongst the patricians at a reasonable rate(less than the Great Houses, since the Dynasts have purer blood, being descended from the Scarlet Empress)
So if you were a member of a patrician family, and Exalted, your options would be to marry into a Great House(which is entirely possible) or try and work your way into high status on sheer merit.
But your political options would be severely limited without a House backing you.
EDIT: Also, Than, stop insulting Thrown. Sidereal Thrown kicks ass. If only Sidereals ever did anything besides MA, anyway.
And all physical stats will be folded into Dex because it's the only one that matters, really.
With one Specialty in the appropriate Craft, you go to no penalty, two is a +1 bonus, and three is +3.
You can have as many Craft specialties as you want.
It's never really played up in the fatsplat, but I always assumed it was implicit in the setting that while the majority of famous and influential Dragon-Blood's are Dynasts, there are just as many Patrician families with strong bloodlines labouring in the background. (Such as "House Keraz" or whatever the nickname was for the family that basically ran the Imperial treasury.)