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[PBP] Exalted 3rd - The Tale of Kishinou begins now
Rainfall
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
"The Neck"
That's what the cartographers call the chain of islands that stretch across the West, as if a single word could encompass the hundreds of tribes, kingdoms, customs, and peoples that inhabit the lush isles between the Realm's western fortress of Abalone and the growing empire held by the greedy sea-lords of Azure, while the necromantic cults of the Skullstone Archipelago cast .
Out here, government is meaningless. Only the power of patron gods and elementals can defend mortals against the onslaught of the Fae, Demons, and pirates hiding from the wrath of the Realm. The prices they ask for such protections are high, but for most, there is no other choice.
The Realm only takes what they can extract from the natives with brutal force, leaving when they no longer receive sufficient returns on their 'efforts,' while the sea-lords and the necromancers only claim the human bodies they need for their slavery and sorcery.
This is where you've found yourselves. More specifically, the isle of Kishinou, one of the larger islands in the Neck, where the islanders congregate in the port city of Kishin, of which the only law is thus: Do not kill on the land. Any who break the law suffer the wrath of Lady Stauro, The Empty Mountain, Goddess of the hollow volcano whose lower slopes house the outskirts of Kishin, and whose upper slopes hold ruins haunted by ghosts, spirits, and worse.
Word spreads of this sacred place, where killing is outlawed, but the law does little to protect the weak. Crippling, maiming, and dumping someone into the ocean to be consumed by the Siaka that circle the harbor results in no punishment. Only the strong prosper in Kishin. Outlaws, pirates, and merchants with enough jade to hire bodyguards as they con the islanders of their goods rule the city.
This is the stage you have found yourself on. What brings you to Kishin, and what secrets of the island and of Stauro will convince you to remain?
I'm looking for
People who have backed the kickstarter and want a chance to fuck about
Probably less than 5 players but definitely at most a full circle.
Not ten pages of backstory, this is more an adventure for us to fiddle about with the system and gain some familiarity/comfort, do something a little relaxed
No overly-antagonistic concepts.
You have to be a Solar this is not optional.
That's what the cartographers call the chain of islands that stretch across the West, as if a single word could encompass the hundreds of tribes, kingdoms, customs, and peoples that inhabit the lush isles between the Realm's western fortress of Abalone and the growing empire held by the greedy sea-lords of Azure, while the necromantic cults of the Skullstone Archipelago cast .
Out here, government is meaningless. Only the power of patron gods and elementals can defend mortals against the onslaught of the Fae, Demons, and pirates hiding from the wrath of the Realm. The prices they ask for such protections are high, but for most, there is no other choice.
The Realm only takes what they can extract from the natives with brutal force, leaving when they no longer receive sufficient returns on their 'efforts,' while the sea-lords and the necromancers only claim the human bodies they need for their slavery and sorcery.
This is where you've found yourselves. More specifically, the isle of Kishinou, one of the larger islands in the Neck, where the islanders congregate in the port city of Kishin, of which the only law is thus: Do not kill on the land. Any who break the law suffer the wrath of Lady Stauro, The Empty Mountain, Goddess of the hollow volcano whose lower slopes house the outskirts of Kishin, and whose upper slopes hold ruins haunted by ghosts, spirits, and worse.
Word spreads of this sacred place, where killing is outlawed, but the law does little to protect the weak. Crippling, maiming, and dumping someone into the ocean to be consumed by the Siaka that circle the harbor results in no punishment. Only the strong prosper in Kishin. Outlaws, pirates, and merchants with enough jade to hire bodyguards as they con the islanders of their goods rule the city.
This is the stage you have found yourself on. What brings you to Kishin, and what secrets of the island and of Stauro will convince you to remain?
I'm looking for
People who have backed the kickstarter and want a chance to fuck about
Probably less than 5 players but definitely at most a full circle.
Not ten pages of backstory, this is more an adventure for us to fiddle about with the system and gain some familiarity/comfort, do something a little relaxed
No overly-antagonistic concepts.
You have to be a Solar this is not optional.
Rainfall on
0
Posts
But seriously, I've got a Zenith concept and an Eclipse concept.
Unbowed Back - a western woman of indeterminate age, Back was a cadet branch daughter of House Tepet. She joined the Immaculate Order to escape the constant backstabbing of her immediate family. She spent most of her youth in a monastery studying the Immaculate Truths. On her first mission she encountered a Lunar who nearly killed her. The beast tore her face before growling "rrreememberrrr." Back awoke in a nearby temple, tended by another itinerant monk. When she meditated upon her encounter with the Lunar, she was blinded by a brilliant vision of the Unconquered Sun. Sol looked directly at her and uttered seven words. Back has not told anyone what they were. She slew the itinerant monk who had nursed her back to health and departed the roadside temple. She has traveled from temple to temple, challenging Immaculate monks to fights and crushing them thanks to the gifts of Sol Invictus. She doesn't tell anyone why, and simply leaves the body strewn across the altar.
The Moray - a native of Wu-Jian, the Moray comes from an impossibly long line of sailors. His father was a pirate from Wu-Jian, his mother a captain from Port Calin. The Moray says little more than that about his parents, and only to his trusted friends. He has sailed for so long that his first steps on land came at almost fourteen years of age, when his father took him ashore to "make a man of him." In a lifestyle that breeds conflict and bloodshed, the Moray excelled at quelling feuds and settling differences amicably. By the time he was 17 he'd worked his way to command of a sloop and never looked back. Harmonious Reef was infamous in the Neck for nearly a decade before it went down with all hands. Six years later, the Moray disembarked from a trader's ship in Kishin, his hands permanently stained red. Or so they say.
I have a Dawn concept off the top of my head, Eight-Black-Tigers.
Essentially inspired by Rama from The Raid, Tiger Style (and potentially, even probably, a secondary style, Black Claw or Snake!) Martial Arts on a street fighting tough who brings justice to the hard parts of town. His dojo of martial artist magistrates were attempting to bring some kind of vigilante justice to Kishin, but were betrayed from within before they had the chance to strike. On the night that they were ambushed within their dojo, though, their youngest student Iko felt the rage of the Dawn flood through him, and he crippled each and every assailant, leaving their broken bodies in the street. Now he seeks revenge for the betrayal, to rebuild his dojo, and justice for the poor and downtrodden.
Only potential trouble for me is time zones but I will see what can be done
especially as it would be nice to go through the CC process together too.
I'm going to get some value out of this product, damn it!
@The Hanged Man Whoah no only two people are in so far. Get in on this!
Oh, for real? Well then, I'm updating my Twilight from 2E to 3E as we speak, I'll get some info on him to you ASAP.
But looking over the other Abilities he was big on, I've come up with another cool idea, for a sailor who gets shipwrecked in the Wyld, outwits a powerful Raksha to steal the secrets of its magic, and escapes with its famously enchanted boat. Now I'm just figuring out what his combat style will be... but he'll probably wind up a Melee guy with some kind of polearm, because practically all my characters do.
EDIT: To elaborate, I'm thinking of playing a pirate who uses twin short slashing blades with a couple of martial arts styles. Suave, sexy, witty and really dangerous. To wit;
I dunno how to do anything on IRC anymore but let's fiddle with some characters. If that's a crap time slot then I'll have a lot more available time in upcoming evenings.
Also yes essentially a Mantis! Looking at Shining Point and Steel Devil and I definitely think there's a cool potential overlap there so I am going to go for that. Actual character story I am having a think about right now. Thinking that he's less of a pirate leader and more of a wandering swordsman who is perhaps on the same boat as one of the other PCs as a bit of muscle?
@Solar as Azharn, Dawn-Caste Ex-Lintha who really really hates Lintha. Lintha.
@The Hanged Man as a vaguely water-tribe type sports fisherman. Not a sorcerer. Sports. Fisherman.
@Erich Zahn as Buckle, a Night-Caste mercenary with a strong set of morals and definitely the most respectable guy around
@Ardent as THE MORAY, Eclipse pirate captain/murderer/bad type of person
So there's technically room for a Zenith if @italianranma is still interested. I'll kick things off as soon as we have a full set of character sheets!
He always has some kind of get-rich-quick scheme on the back burners in his mind, or he's tinkering with some kind of ludicrously complex invention to save him from a comparably simple task. Or gets caught up, against his better judgment, in applying such a "fix" to someone else's life. Everyone who knew him in his home village agreed that if he'd just learn to put in an honest day's work, it would be a lot less hassle overall. He learned the rudiments of Thaumaturgy not as a shaman or artisan, but as a huckster. He started out selling shoddy talismans and half-assed horoscopes to the credulous, but quickly discovered he had a legitimate gift for it, and had to deliberately undersell his talent to keep business from getting too good. Whenever locals would start to put too much trust in his skills, he'd sail to the next Island and establish anew a reputation for useless indolence.
And then, a monsoon carried his little fishing boat far from the waters he knew, where he became sport for a Raksha hunter. Nagivating the labyrinthine realm of his captor, he became familiar with its twisted rules and arcane geometries, and managed to elude the hunt for long enough for the whole experience to serve as a crash course in the Occult principles that his puzzle-solving mind had already been prying at his whole life. With wit and will, he defied the Raksha, stole several of its most prized treasures, and escaped the Wyld. When he emerged in Creation, his sojourn in the Wyld had impressed upon him initiation into the Terrestrial Circle of Sorcery, and he bore the mark of the Twilight Caste.
Not that he wants anyone to know that. Even without the threat of the Wyld Hunt, it's deeply ingrained in Genraq's nature to conceal his true potential.
ABILITIES
- Occult (SUPERNAL. His devious and dishonest mind is perfectly suited to wriggling through all the askew structures underlying reality.)
- Crafts (He'll likely start with whatever specialty allows him to take care of his own boat, but his inclination to tinker will see him expand to other disciplines in time.)
- Integrity (Good luck getting Genraq to do anything he doesn't want to!)
- Investigation (Mysteries don't need to be Arcane to hook his interest.)
- Lore (More of an untapped potential. His education has been informal and haphazard, but if he ever cuts loose in a good library, it will change the world!)
Favored:
- Thrown (Primary combat style, from throwing harpoons and nets. Wields a Black Jade Skycutter he stole from the Raksha.)
- Socialize (Genraq is actually scrupulously honest! He just has a knack for sneaking the truth through lie-shaped holes in a listener's perception.)
- Dodge (Sidestepping trouble is second nature to him.)
- Sail (Genraq lives on his boat, and routinely passes weeks without seeing the shore.)
- Survival (For fishing, and Familiar Boosting charms.)
Others:
- Athletics (He at least knows how to swim.)
- Awareness (When he's not too distracted, at least.)
- Resistance (He's in good shape, from a lifetime exposed to the elements.)
- Performance (Genraq's character is pretty much defined around the conflict between laziness and ego. When ego is ascendant, he likes to brag in grand crowd-gathering style.)
- Linguistics (I'm still iffy on whether he just knows Seatongue, or has picked up some others in his travels.)
If you think that kind of restrictive schedule is alright, then I'll make a zenith character exactly at noon today (but again, I won't post it until much later).
Dex: 4
Sta: 3
Cha: 2
Man: 3
App: 2
Per: 4
Int: 3
Wit: 4
ABILITIES
CS - Occult (SUPERNAL): 5 (The Wyld)
C - Linguistics: 1 (Native: Sea-Tongue. Merits: Old Realm)
C - Integrity: 3
C - Investigation: 3
C - Lore: 2
F - Thrown: 5 (On unsteady footing)
F - Socialize: 2
F - Dodge: 5
F - Sail: 4 (Riding storms)
F - Survival: 4 (At sea)
O - Athletics: 1
O - Awareness: 2
O - Resistance: 1
O - Crafts: 1
WILLPOWER - 7
ESSENCE - 1
Personal - 13
Peripheral - 33
MERITS
Artifact 3 - Skycutter
Familiar 1 - Haku (Cormorant)
Language 1 - Old Realm (Native: Sea-Tongue)
Resources 1
Miracles of Shadow and Chaos 4 - Wyld Initiation Sorcery merit (pg 469)
FLAWS
There's a Boomerang-loving Raksha out there who fucking hates this guy.
LIMIT TRIGGER - Genraq is interrupted or prevented from taking his liesure.
LIMIT BREAK - Genraq will seize on some trivial mystery, or invent one from scratch, and prioritize analyzing it in every detail over any other goals.
CHARMS
Dodge 3 - Reed in the Wind (pg 299)
Dodge 3 - Reflex Sidestep Technique (pg 299)
Dodge 3 - Leaping Dodge Method (pg 300)
Integrity 3 - Integrity-Protecting Prana (pg 304)
Lore 2 - Wyld-Dispelling Prana (pg 330)
Occult 1 - Spirit-Detecting Glance (pg 354)
Occult 2 - Spirit-Cutting Attack (pg 354)
Occult 3 - Terrestrial Circle Sorcery (page 360)
Resistance 1 - Ox-Body Technique (page 375)
Sail 3 - Salty Dog Method (page 386)
Survival 3 - Hardship-Surviving Mendicant Spirit (pg 409)
Thrown 1 - Precision of the Striking Raptor (pg 416)
Thrown 3 - Joint-Wounding Attack (Pg 416)
SOME KIND OF BOOMERANG EVOCATION
ONE EXTRA SPELL
SORCERY
Scarred by Nightmares initiation
Esoteric Taboo shaping ritual (Can't outright lie)
SPELLS
Summon Elemental (CONTROL SPELL)
Invulnerable Skin of Bronze
Also, for his one Evocation, I'm thinking his Skycutter is Black Jade, and for 1m it can be used to make an attack underwater with no penalty, or to strike from above the surface at something below (or the reverse) at a reduced penalty.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lP2oD1kirm2CtLTbH8rZbMpKVcbNg34v_s1_NEkK5og/edit?usp=sharing
I'm not really sure if Investigation is the Ability I want. If someone else is going to invest in it, let me know so I can shuffle those dots.
In the Scavenger Lands, "mercenary" is synonymous with bandit. The River Province's many hired swords protest this, clinging to bright colors and courtly manners. But when wars end, men and women with no trade but war find themselves dispossessed, with nothing to wager but their lives. Buckle was one such soldier, left indigent by a grubbing king. But unlike his comrades, Buckle could not settle for a life of qualified banditry. The zouave made his way South to Chiaroscuro, where he heard every soldier was made a prince, and found a respectable living as a hired duelist. But it was never enough. The mercenary began to work for less and less pay, asking questions of his clients that they were unwilling to answer. Soon, Buckle was bereft, with little but the clothes on his back.
It was then that he gained the greatest treasure of all.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OIP-S4fRpTtxPaR-80qbx8ZCJyMy38QyvRioSFMvPvA/edit?usp=sharing
I've got it favored with a decent value, but didn't wind up keeping any charms from it. If it starts to seem needed though, I'm fine with digging into it with EXP in game.
Now all he needs is a boaaaaaaaat.
Rowboat. Rowboaaaat
He can just take a boat. Like a boss.
Aw, come on! At least a decent sized sailboat! Resources 1 seems more like basic comfortable
income than the brink of poverty, the way it's described in this edition.
Strength 3, Charisma 3, Perception 2
Dexterity 5, Manipulation 1, Intelligence 2
Stamina 3, Appearance 3, Wits 3
Willpower 7
Skills
-Supernal Melee ***** (Daiklave)
-Awareness ***
-Dodge ***** (Evasion)
-Resistance ***
-Integrity ***
-Athletics *****
-Sail ***
-Survival ** (Navigation)
-Occult ***
-War ** (Naval)
Lore *
Linguistics *
Merits
Artifact **** (Daiklave)
Subtle Gills *****
Infernal Nobility * (Sorcerous Merit from Initiation, p467)
Charms
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery (Spell: Demon of the First Circle)
Excellent Strike (+1 auto success, re-roll 1s)
One Weapon, Two Blows (melee attack reduces target initiative from higher to lower, may make secondary attack)
Fire and Stones Strike (withering; spend up to (strength) motes to add +1 to post-soak damage, decisive max (essence, 3) motes to transfer successes from attack to damage)
Dipping Swallow Defence (ignore defence penalties, +1 initiative if parry successful)
Bulwark Stance (1s rolled on attack vs Solar inflict -1 successes up to (essence), no def penalties until next action)
Perfect Strike Discipline (1wp, once per scene, full melee excellency for free)
Rising Sun Slash (if full excellency used, 7,8,9,10 rolled adds (essence) non-charm dice to attack)
Foe Cleaving Focus (if Rising Sun Slash used, each 10 rolled = 1 mote gained)
Salty Dog Method (loads of shit, lord why wouldn't you take this charm in a game set in the West?)
Monkey Leap Technique (leap forward or upward 1 range band)
Graceful Crane Stance (balance on impossible shit)
Foe Vaulting Method (if initiative is higher, Dex+Athletics vs Evasion, if successful, make surprise attack)
Reed in the Wind (pay 2i to raise evasion by one, (essence) additional evasion on top of charm evasion max)
This is where I am so far. Some thoughts; excellent strike is a nice efficient attack charm, one weapon two blows is basically there as an opportunistic technique, but if the opportunity comes up, then I can use Perfect Strike Discipline and Foe Vaulting Method to immediately launch an incredibly dangerous attack with maximum dice, which is then automatically enhanced by Rising Sun Slash and Foe Cleaving Focus. So that's a nice little combo there. Dipping Swallor Defence and Bulwark Stance are my onslaught negators, Fire and Stones my damage boosters. Reed in the Wind is useful too, especially as with Dipping Swallow the cost of the reduction is slightly mitigated.
Going to create a Daiklave in the Lintha style, too. Got a spare charm slot to use up and not sure how.
Anyway.