Exalted: The End of an Age
This game began as a brainchild on the White Wolf Exalted forum. Players wishing to participate are advised to post their character concept there. Here is a link to the original thread:
http://forums.white-wolf.com/cs/forums/t/34272.aspx?PageIndex=1
Player should be aware of the following differences in canon. Divergences appear in chronological order, not in order of importance. They are also written from the perspective of commonly known history in Creation. (Player and plot ramifications appear in parenthesis.)
First: In preparation for the war with his brethren, the Great Maker created more Exalted than in the canon setting. For every Solar, there is both one Lunar and one Sidereal. This triumvirate was designed to balance each of the three and to afford them mutual protection. (There are, as stated, just as many Sidereals as there are Solars or Lunars. Sidereals also have access to the Solar and Lunar bond, while Lunars have the Solar and Sidereal bond, and Sidereal have the Solar and Lunar bond. These bonds offer effects identical to the extant Solar bond, except in who they offer protection from.)
Second: The Primordial War’s history is shrouded in a great deal of mystery, but it is known that Malfeas’ sued for peace. The negotiated truce did banish the Yozi to live within Malfeas, but the cracks in the prison are wide. The Ebon Dragon’s participation in the peace talks is well documented, as is Gaia’s. The Yozi agreed to surrender, and in exchange the Exalted swore to halt aggression to the Yozi and their core devas. There are a number of sub clauses to the treaty, many of which have been lost to obscurity. (Marriage as a way out is not one of these sub clauses.)
Third: The Great Maker, Auchtothon, is currently beyond the reach of the Exalted of Creation. He disappeared some time during the Usurpation, after the events of the Aftershock War. Evidence suggests that he took not only mortals, but a large number of Dragon Blood and even more Jadeborn. Currently the only method to ascertain anything about the Great Maker and his current designs left in Creation is to consult a Seer among the remaining Jadeborn. And even then, the answers are usually of no use to the Exalted. Usually if an Exalt seeks an answer, the answer returns as “Negative.” (Mountain Folk in Auchtothonia do not suffer from the Geas, and have additional Charm Patterns as well. They, and not random humans, know the secret of creating Alchemical Exalted using soulgems of heroic human souls. Mountain Folk in Creation are not nearly so lucky.)
Fourth: The Solars were the hubris filled god kings everyone remembers. Their fellow Exalts petitioned heaven for the Sun’s patronage to be revoked. Eventually, that request was granted. (Solars cannot use Holy effects when under Limit break. Those that test the Sun’s wrath can have the privilege revoked entirely.)
Fifth: The Usurpation was not just a case of Exalt vs. Exalt. After a series of terrible blasphemies over the First Age, including suing Auchtothon for the secret of Exaltation, risking the treaty with the Yozi by stretching the bounds of Sorcery too far, awakening the Neverborn in order to create Necromancy, and attempting to break into the Jade Pleasure Dome and play The Games of Divinity, the Solar Exalted had gone too far in testing the Unconquered Sun’s patience. Sentencing them to endure an Age entombed within their own power, the Sun declared his own champions anathema to Creation. Every other Exalt in Creation inevitably turned on their Solar compatriots, including their divorced mates, the Lunar Exalted. (The Sidereal Exalted never broke the Mask, and do not suffer Arcane Fate. They do have a Charm that duplicates its effects. They also have access to Astrological Charms and the ability to make new Charms, though making new ones still requires a signature from their patron Maiden. Lunars were never hunted in the Usurpation, never fled into the Wyld, and never lost two Castes or resorted to using tattoos to affix their Castes. A Charm does exist however to allow their Castes to become fluid along with the moon, as do Anti-Shaping Charms to make up for the lack of tattoos. The Waxing Moon Anima and Half Moon anima will be upgraded for purposes of this setting. No Moons may also get a boost.)
Sixth: With Lunars, Sidereals, and Dragon Blooded working together, Creation did not fall apart at a steep decline. The Shogunate Period was defined by a series of military based rule of large portions of Creation. Although the Great Contagion and the Balorian Crusades were major setbacks, they did not result in a massive regime change. Although the same Shogun has been in power for hundreds of years, it is accepted that she seats herself as a junior among equals, as she represents the Dragon Blooded to her Celestial Peers. Surrendering her name to the dark powers in the Sword of Creation, she convinced them to ignore her lack of a Solar Exaltation and give her control of the Realm Defense Grid along with her Sidereal and Lunar companions. It requires all three of them to control the grid, but fortunately they know well enough not to destroy elements of Creation even when they defend it against terrible enemies. (Dragon Blooded are still the military of the Realm, formed of many lineages formed into larger Gens. The Realm is a superpower that has territory in every Terrestrial direction. Tributary nations are usually territories of Lunars who tire of Deliberative politics. The Shogun is the only Dragon Blood to participate in the Deliberative. The Immaculate Faith exists in a fashion as the collective worship of the Exalted of the Deliberative, and as a doctrine to educate the masses about the Anathema: Exalted who turned against Heaven and would destroy Creation with their hubris.)
Seven: The Age long sentence of imprisonment passed, and the Deliberative’s agents accompanied the god Lytek to the Citadel of Iron and Jade, deep in the Imperial Mountain where the Jadeborn Empire once was strongest. There they found it broken and empty. Not long after, Shadowlands of unknown origin festered up the surface of the Threshold. Sidereals on watch discovered tampering in the section of the Loom devoted to managing Lethe, Lunars on far patrol discovered entire Unshaped in the deep Wyld had been killed and turned into strange Shadowlands. And worst of all, Lytek discovered that a number of his tools used to clean and repair broken Exaltations were missing. A great deal of searching eventually revealed that the Solars had indeed escaped somehow before their release was due. Some fifty have been documented and identified. Fearing that these rogue Exalted were still mad and bent on destruction, the Deliberative repurposed the Wyld Hunt from patrolling the borders of Creation to locating and destroying rogue Solars. The Deliberative knows what they are and what they are capable of, and petitions to the Incarnae for another sentencing is already underway. The envoy from Malfeas seems pleased by these events, and openly writes to her masters of Exalt killing Exalt. (The Deathlords did indeed break into the prison, finding tortured Exaltations inside. What happened next is unknown to the Deliberative. Stealing and bartering for knowledge from the Yozi, the Deathlords and their Neverborn patrons learned the secret of turning Solar Exaltations spurned by the Unconquered Sun into the Black Exaltations of the Abyssal Exalted. Two Hundred were made. Of the remaining hundred, only fifty Solars are accounted for. It is unknown why, but both Solars and Abyssals have no capacity to form the Past Life background, yet Solars do not return to Lytek’s cabinet anymore. Also, Lillun does not exist. Malfeas thought of a much better way to store and prepare Exaltations.)
Other heresies against canon may be forthcoming, but these are the most wide sweeping and relevant to the Exalted. People are welcome to post their level of interest, what Exalt type they are most interested in, and a brief character concept. Right now I don’t want to see a bunch of stats, but all players must be Exalts. The Dragon Blooded of Great Houses and Gens overlap and are socially confused, but most people see one as the aristocracy and the other as the military. Dragon Blooded may also be Akuma. Barbaric nonsensical Lunars are discouraged. Sidereals may be Gold, Silver, or Bronze faction, and all three are relevant. Abyssals are staging a massive war to take the Deliberative by surprise and do as much damage as possible before a coherent response can be made. Alchemicals and Auchtothonian Dragon Blooded (who are normal Dragon Blooded in Auchtothonia) are viable, but new to the scene, as are newly returned Solars. Infernals are advised not to bring attention to themselves, especially Green Sun Princes.
