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View Full Version : [Exalted] Artificial Exaltation: How Would You Do It?



Leliel
2010-03-24, 06:00 PM
Hello, some of you may know me from the White Wolf boards. You may not know, however, that I like to repost things on different boards to get a wider opinion. This is one of them.

Well, my prospective campaign BBEG (well, he was originally an Eberron BBEG, but I fell in love with Exalted and so I've been created an Age of Sorrows version of him), Rikath Arathale, is of the "everyone deserves a chance to be special, so I'm going to force Creation to give them one" persuasion (and no, he isn't a Lunar, in case you were wondering).

The method by which he does so is a bit more of gradual then the typical "commence long and complex ritual, end world as we know it, gloat" routine. Rather, he plans to do something both terrifying and miraculous:

Turn his minions into his own custom strain of Exalt.

Now, I'm sure you're asking the obvious question: "How, exactly, is he going to create a work that rivals that of the Great Maker? Is he some kind of god?" Well, mostly yes-he comes from an alternate Creation, known as Nyx-the one the Primordial that did the smart thing in the War and fled created with her Wyld-born buddies (I use the "evolved Unshaped" explanation for Primordial birth) when they decided to see if they could make something that wouldn't attempt to kill them. In it, his people, the Ruestli, effectively achieved a Technological Singularity based on Genesis (or "life-shaping" as they preferred to call it) and became nigh-divine posthumans with powers verging on that of the Titans themselves. Of course, as is the case in Exalted, all this power went to their heads and they ended up creating an actual Primordial as a weapon of war.

That went well.

Anyway, they managed to banish him into the Wyld before he could take over Nyx and set his sights on other Creations, but their home was rendered uninhabitable to them as a result. The survivors were forced to leave their home behind, and seek out other worlds on Wyld-ships to colonize. One the more ill-fated ships landed on our good old Creation. For your sake, I hope you can guess who the sole survivor was.

The trouble is that while I certainly have a good idea why he's able to create Exalted (after the rampaging Titan, a symbiotic soul is small fry) I have no idea how, and I'm not confident enough with the rules to try an entirely new class of character (albeit a mostly NPC one...but then again, so are Abyssals, and that doesn't stop people from playing them). So...

Could I have a few suggestions as to what kind of Exalted a transhuman alien with a populist philosophy might make? And just perhaps, a few Charm suggestions?

The Rose Dragon
2010-03-24, 06:12 PM
Alchemicals?

I mean, that's what Autochthon did.

Leliel
2010-03-24, 06:16 PM
Alchemicals?

I mean, that's what Autochthon did.

Um...Craft: Genesis is mad science biology, not Magitech.

Even if he knew they existed, engineering is not his purview, it's magical genetics.

The Rose Dragon
2010-03-24, 06:18 PM
Even if he knew they existed, engineering is not his purview, it's magical genetics.

Refluff Alchemicals to biologically augmented Exalts rather than steampunk ones.

Voila!

Leliel
2010-03-24, 06:35 PM
Refluff Alchemicals to biologically augmented Exalts rather than steampunk ones.

Voila!

I would...

But kinda feels like cheating my PCs out of something that could be fun (I'm not saying that Alchemicals aren't fun, just that I think slapping a different color on them shirks my duty as ST).

One Step Two
2010-03-24, 06:39 PM
Are we talking about Artificial Exaltation in the manner that we take a regular mortal and imbue them with power to reach heights of excellence, or based of the Alchemical idea where the bodies are awesome with a human soul? Or something more abstract again?

Turning mortals into something more than mortal is easy enough in some regards, depending how you want to play it out. Tiger Warrior Training Style or Imbue Amalgum are simple examples, which you can extpand upon to make something similar.

If we're talking about magically imbued bodies, you can say, for example, use the fact that they shape the pure potential of the wyld to make perfected bodies for humankind to use (not unlike the Enlightend Mountainfolk), and find a way to transfer their conciousness into these new vessels of power.

Something more dangerous would be to take mortals into the wyld and set up a very strict and somewhat controlled mutation program, turning the average being into one without peer. Not unlike the SOLDIER program from FFVII.

How do those ideas tickle you?

Leliel
2010-03-24, 07:39 PM
Are we talking about Artificial Exaltation in the manner that we take a regular mortal and imbue them with power to reach heights of excellence, or based of the Alchemical idea where the bodies are awesome with a human soul? Or something more abstract again?

Rikath is of the philosophy of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and he has no quarrel with the idea of Celestial Exalts themselves-only that there's a set number of them. He plans on the old "imbue mortals" method combined with the permanent Essence awakening of every human in Creation.

Turning mortals into something more than mortal is easy enough in some regards, depending how you want to play it out. Tiger Warrior Training Style or Imbue Amalgum are simple examples, which you can extpand upon to make something similar.

Actually, that's what I planned on, at least for the Awakened Mortals. I have something in mind called the Phurba of the Third Eye that is essentially an Artifact ment to do exactly that.

If we're talking about magically imbued bodies, you can say, for example, use the fact that they shape the pure potential of the wyld to make perfected bodies for humankind to use (not unlike the Enlightend Mountainfolk), and find a way to transfer their conciousness into these new vessels of power.

Hm...Interesting. I'll keep that in mind.

Something more dangerous would be to take mortals into the wyld and set up a very strict and somewhat controlled mutation program, turning the average being into one without peer. Not unlike the SOLDIER program from FFVII.

Good, though he'd only send the willing to do that after several admonishments not to. He's an honorable sort.

How do those ideas tickle you?

In all the right places. And that came out wrong.

One Step Two
2010-03-24, 09:09 PM
Rikath is of the philosophy of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and he has no quarrel with the idea of Celestial Exalts themselves-only that there's a set number of them. He plans on the old "imbue mortals" method combined with the permanent Essence awakening of every human in Creation.

I like the idea, but remember, Celestial Exalts are chosen, be it by their exmplary nature, their determination or fate, they have the hallmarks of a hero before they Exalted in most cases.


Actually, that's what I planned on, at least for the Awakened Mortals. I have something in mind called the Phurba of the Third Eye that is essentially an Artifact ment to do exactly that.

Making everyone into essence channelers isn't all that hard, relatively speaking, because they already have unconcious links to how they tap into creation, their reincarnation, etc. One thing I used in my current campaign was a way to find every single person with a terrestrial bloodline and use Solar charms to let them have another chance at taking the second breath. Link. (http://exalted.xi.co.nz/wiki/wiki.pl?ArabianNinja/DragonbloodEmpowerment) (It's a 1st edition, but relatively simple to translate to 2nd)


Hm...Interesting. I'll keep that in mind.

The interesting thing is when these "people" who are perfect sorts of humans, who are able to do very basic sort of Exalt things, like being able to balance on a single blade of grass (ala Graceful Crane Stance), what then happens if they get to Exalt? Fun times:smallbiggrin:


Good, though he'd only send the willing to do that after several admonishments not to. He's an honorable sort.

Also worth noting, that there are mutations that let people channel essence, as far as the 1st ed rules go, they're in the Lunars Book if you have access to it.


In all the right places. And that came out wrong.

I won't tell if you don't. :smallwink:

Jerthanis
2010-03-25, 01:20 AM
Well, is he a mighty, deific being like the Incarnae? Because if not, he'd need to steal such power to fuel his new Exalts. He'd have only a couple options for this, for example: Nox was an Incarnae fated to betray the revolution of the gods, and his essence was trapped under/inside the Loom of Fate. His consciousness is largely gone, but his power remains.

Now, if you want to give all of Creation the ability to channel essence, that'd be pretty easy if you just have a whole bunch of time and Celestial level Craft: Genesis capability. In the first age, the Solars put their minds to breeding and engineering new and different races for their own purposes, and some of them are natural essence users, such as the Djala. They didn't breed natural essence use into the wider population because they didn't care to, and so the population would feel indebted to their invincible protectors and lend them prayer.