[Exalted] Gazing Into The Well of Udr: Alternate Versions of Creation

[Leliel]

Well, the Manual of Exalted Power-Nocturnals (a book which I am sure will remain beta, seeing as how an Ink Monkey is forbidden from making fan Charms and such) has presented a concept that I have realized works really well in Exalted: The Kalpa, the infinite mass of alternate universes-Creations that could have been, but weren't, but may still be.

So, since they might be a big part of any Nocturnals, or indeed Exalted game, let's make a few!

1.: The Obligatory Mirror Universe: In this Creation, the Yozis, while they are certainly not all good-nothing is, really-they are definitely morally superior to the vicious and treacherous Conqueror Sun and the wicked Empyrean Incarnae. The First Age of Sorrow, as it is known, is rightly remembered by the doomed heroes of the Bronze Faction as the time of cruel, vicious Tyrant-Stars and their Trickster Moons-even if they did get better as the Sun grew more self-absorbed. While Chejop Kejack believed they could be steered toward the right path, the majority opinion disagreed with him and imprisoned their Exaltations in a Jade Prison at the cost of their own lives...but unfortunately, their hate was so great that it eventually melted through their bonds, freeing their self-righteous light into the world once more. All is not lost, however; of the newly freed Solar Exaltations, only the hateful fire of half of them still burned bright enough to find new hosts-the rest had calmed enough to be remade by the benevolent hands of the World-Makers, transforming their destructive power to that of pure creation, in the case of the Primordial survivors, or inner peace and knowledge of the world, in the case of the Neverborn. Together, they may find redemption for the crimes of their previous lives...or become even worse monsters.

2.: The Other Obligatory Mirror Universe: This is very much like the Creation in the core, with one rather large exception-who would be Abyssals and Green Sun Princes in the "core" world, are Solars, and vice versa. On one hand, this creates greater heroes-the luminary Zenith Sulumor makes headway in the South in breaking down eons of distrust between her people and the rest of the South, and the man nicknamed Typhon shows thousands of mortals every day that ghosts can indeed be allies to the living, and that necromancy is not to be shunned. On the other, we have the mad Black Bull of the North, who enslaves entire cities even as he gleefully slaughters them, and the Fiend Swan does things that would make his previous life nauseous.

Or maybe that isn't how things are at all, and maybe they act exactly the same as their Solar selves. Maybe the Green Bull is the kind of person the Ebon Dragon regrets being a viable candidate for Exaltation, and Manosque Cyan spends a lot more time on makeup. That works too.

And now, that the boring ones are out of the way...Go crazy.

[DeadManSleeping]

The DMS's Crazy Version of Exalted That Nobody Likes

When the Incarnae were making their Exalted, Luna was already the consort of Gaia. As such, when the Exaltations were forged, she made her Chosen like those of Gaia. They were lesser in power, but able to breed. The shapeshifting, Wyld-borne Lunars fought alongside the elemental Terrestrials as part of the armies of the Solars. Meanwhile, the Unconquered Sun demanded that the Maidens bind their Viziers to his God-Kings as subservients, but in their wisdom, the Maidens complied by binding each Sidereal to only one Solar. The Usurpation was heart-rending for the Sidereals, as each was forced to be parted with a dearly beloved, but an utter slaughter nonetheless. After the Usurpation, the Dragon-Blooded fought with the Lunars for control over the future world. To this day, the Terrestrials command the center, where their elemental influence gives them a lot to work with, while the Lunars rule the fringes, where their blood flows wildly amongst barbarians, and they disappear into the Wyld no matter how large the armies that get sent against them. The return of the Solars troubles the Sidereals even further, for half of their bond-partners are lost to Fate.

[Xefas]

1.: The Obligatory Mirror Universe:

I'm not seeing much mirror. I'm guessing that bit about Karjack is the flipped part? He believed in the Solars and everyone else disagreed with him?
:smallconfused: I dunno if that's different enough to really merit much exploration.

How about this one:

4.: In Which Swillin Fights Three Hundred Angry Oiled Up Men
When the Principle of Hierarchy sued for peace with the Solars and their legions, they accepted the surrender of any Primordial who they were certain could be trusted to accept their rule without causing trouble. Among them, this numbered...one. The rest, they butchered utterly. The insight and information that She Who Lives In Her Name could provide the Solar host was incalculably valuable, and with it, 22 new Neverborn plummeted into the Underworld.

After the Sun withdrew into the Jade Pleasure Dome, he instructed his new assistant to aid Creation in much the same capacity as had been her duty prior to the war. And so, when the Solars lapsed into madness, she aided the Sidereal host in imprisoning them. Her specifications for the Jade Prison being far superior than what a few Chosen of Serenity could do with, what, two Craft charms? - it held fast much longer than otherwise. Thousands of years flew by, until the machinations of the Dragon That Was, the Empty Throne of Cinders, and the precious few other awakened Neverborn, along with their Deathlord lieutenants, managed to crack the prison, and free all 300 Solars - now Abyssals under their sway.

Shortly after this new threat emerges, owing to the longer time lapse, Autochthon has returned seeking the aid of his sister with his growing disease - knowing he would not have to rely on Solars poking around in his sensitive bits with her out and about.

As vast tracts of Creation fall into the Underworld, and the Lunar Exalted sway dangerously towards rejoining their fallen mates and scorning a world that had otherwise forsaken them, the armies of the Dragonblooded, Alchemicals, and the Pyrian Exalted march against them, outgunned, but by no means outnumbered.

[DeadManSleeping]

Hmm...men and women with elemental powers and robots fighting to save humanity in the magical zombie apocalypse? Interesting, certainly.

[The Glyphstone]

I'm not seeing much mirror. I'm guessing that bit about Karjack is the flipped part? He believed in the Solars and everyone else disagreed with him?
:smallconfused: I dunno if that's different enough to really merit much exploration.


What about the whole, you know, Incarnae being legitimately evil and malicious and the Yozis being good, benevolent entities? That isn't a mirror?:smallconfused:

[Leliel]

What about the whole, you know, Incarnae being legitimately evil and malicious and the Yozis being good, benevolent entities? That isn't a mirror?:smallconfused:

It's a joke.

The humor comes from the fact that the Sun is a legitimately poor ruler by the pure competence scale, not to mention the fact he is a tyrant (ie, a ruler without a drop of royal blood) Luna is insane and proud of it, and the Maidens are...the Maidens. This, combined with just how insane the Solars got...

Yeah, it's a riff on the inherent moral ambiguity of the setting.

Although, the Ivory Dragon kind of stands out.

[Xefas]

What about the whole, you know, Incarnae being legitimately evil and malicious and the Yozis being good, benevolent entities? That isn't a mirror?:smallconfused:

It was mostly a joke, yes. Although, I will always consider the Incarnae to be farther along the evil scale than the Yozi, if only because the Incarnae have choice. The Ebon Dragon cannot stop being an ass, even if he wanted to. Malfeas literally cannot listen to other people and treat them as more than servants (if you're lucky). He isn't being mean - he can't. Calling him evil for killing someone is the equivalent of calling a tornado evil when it smashes someone's house.

Gods, on the other hand, can choose. They are heavily swayed towards their domains, true, but they can handily defy their nature when they feel like it. The Sun chose to become corrupt and complacent - as much as anyone chooses to become so. He could choose to not be, but he doesn't. The Yozi don't have that luxury.

Also obligatory:

5.: Everyone is Ponies
Everyone is ponies.

[Lapak]

The Other Obligatory Mirror World: Utopia
In this Creation, the Games of Divinity were never created. The Primordials were benevolent, attentive rulers of the world, giving the lesser beings they created no cause for complaint. The Gods chose to Exalt humanity only to reflect on earth what was true in Heaven, where perfect rulers reign over those who are less wise without being less important.

If the other worlds are in any way accessible, this is an Eden just waiting for its serpent; if they are not, it is heartbreaking in its untouchable, unattainable perfection.

[golentan]

World of the Worldbound

In this creation, due to a massive eugenics program in the distant pass everyone has the blood of the dragons. Exaltation is simply a natural extension of growing up: as assumed an automatic stage as going through puberty albeit less regular in the time it chooses to manifest.

[gareth]

The World Without Ghosts
Killing Yozis did not create Neverborn - they were completely wiped out of existence. There's no Underworld, no ghosts, and no Deathlords or Abyssal exalts. Everyone reincarnates perfectly.

The World of the Failed Nightmare
The Ebon Dragon and the Neverborn completely botch their plan. All of the Solar exaltations escape without modification. There are no Abyssal or Infernal exalts.

The World of Triple Brass
Similar to the above, except that the Ebon Dragon screwed the Neverborn out of their share of the exaltations. There are no Abyssals, three times as many Infernals, and ten more Yozis joined the project.

[Arbane]

The Untoppled Three-Hundred Thrones

In this world, the Solar Purge was a resounding failure. The Solars still rule with an iron grip. The Dead are harmless, the Yozis are prisoners, and the Fae dare not invade. The only threat to creation.... is 300 increasingly mad omnipotent despots.

[Xefas]

12.: Our Silver Earthmother
In the beginning, the Primordials elected one among them to forge the perfect template for their new Creation. Empowered by Cytherea, this demiurge would construct the Omphalos, an Elemental Pole to stand against the Wyld and enforce linear time on the cosmos, as well as a number of additional Poles that would shape the very basic building blocks of the new land.

Many raised their hands. One was chosen. Gaia came in second, but close only matters with Horseshoes and Soulbreaker Orbs. Cecelyne and Cytherea's legendary coitus spawned the Elemental Pole of Sand to stand as a beacon of stability at the center of all that Is.

The Blessed Isle is a massive silver desert, bountiful with locust-spawning pits that provide endless nutrition and happiness to those that dwell there.

To the West, the beautiful Pole of Glass stands, imposing uniformity on the surrounding sand, transforming the Direction of Creation into (if left untouched - which it has not been) a single piece of sheer, unbroken glass. Due to the traffic that it has seen over the millennia, most areas have become a sea of broken shards, deadly for any to walk upon. And so, travel by ship among the few unbroken isles is most common.

To the North is the Pole of Wisdom. Here, sand and space move in esoteric flows and eddies, though always with discernible reason. To tourists, simply walking down the street can be a harrowing experience. To those residents accustomed to it, movement is no more awkward than the precautions one might take to live and survive in a harsh tundra environment.

To the South looms the Pole of Tutelage. The land here is barren and unforgiving, with no life-sustaining resources to be seen. To the weak of will or the closed of mind, it is an utter death trap. However, to those strong enough to take it for themselves, the South can be a paradise. The land itself responds to Prayer and Conviction, providing rich mineral deposits for those with the strength to mine them, and revitalizing oases for the deserving.

To the East is the towering Pole of Infinitude. As one walks closer to the pole, the specks of sand beneath their feet begin to part, the space in between filled by a infinite chasm that falls into a starry sky much like the one that looms above at night. One does not fall, however. Eventually, all land has sunken away - none can accurately recall the exact moment when they were no longer walking on solid ground, but were instead floating in the Infinite East. The stars here range from a few hundred yards across, to many miles, and have a spiritual gravity that allow those in the Infinity to draw themselves towards the surface. Their light provides food to the soul, and for those that don't mind living on eternally glowing star-stuff, it is a home.

When the Primordial War started, the many-faced Luna seduced Cecelyne, and she sided with the Incarnae, even as her cousin, Gaia, threw her lot in with the Empyreal Chaos. Because of this, she was never maimed by the Solars. Make no mistake - Cecelyne has never been kind, but without her mutilation, she is Fair. She is no tyrant, and her laws and the laws of the Sun are strictly enforced by her devas and the Terrestrial Exalted of Sand, Glass, Wisdom, Tutelage, and Infinitude.

Malfeas, on the other hand, is ringed by a savage world of elemental chaos. In order to bind the Demon City, the Exalted mutilated Gaia into an earthen prison, removing her Compassion and Love of Life, much as they nonconsensually removed Cecelyne's Hope and Justice in Creation Prime.

The Cataclysm-Caste Infernals have inherited the charms of the fallen Gaia, wielding the elements and a savage, misguided mockery of natural selection as weapons against Creation.

[Lord Raziere]

13.The Lunar Deliberative

Instead of The Scarlet Empress saving the day, the Silver Pact somehow figured out how to work the Realm Defense Grid, took control of it and wiped out the Fae themselves, then overran the the Blessed Isle and took control of it.
Now the Lunar Deliberative is the most powerful nation in Creation.

the Dragon-Blooded have been pushed to the Threshold and are scattered and leaderless, forming various separate feudal fiefdoms and kingdoms. Lookshy is the lone Dragon-Blooded bastion against the Lunar's.

Meamwhile in Heaven, the Sidereals factions have shifted. there are three, the Bronze, the Gold, and the Silver, all equally powerful and numerous.

The Solars however are returning and threaten the Lunar Deliberative- will the Lunars hold their great empire from which they control their successful Thousand Streams project across Creation against their returning mates? Or will the Solars outshine the Children of Luna once again?

Meanwhile the Abyssals plan to exploit their bonds with the Lunars to destroy the Deliberative from the inside, while Infernals have plans to corrupt their bond with the Lunars like their own Exaltations have been and take control for themselves.

[Recaiden]

14.: She was Loyal

When the Incarnae drew their plans against the Primordials, Gaia did not join them. Though Luna loved her, she could tell that the mother of Creation would not betray her fellows. Only Autocthon, always an outcast, would join them.
When the Exalted marched to war, they did not fight only the Creators, but their own world. The dragonblooded armies were not there to fight, and Autocthon was forced to build his own Exalted to join the fight. Furthermore, as the war went on, the rebel gods resolved that they needed to invert many of their Exalted into their darker forms, suited for destruction. An abomination based on the corrupting Void, what would in other worlds be called Abyssals and Nihilics were a weapon of last resort, never intended to be used. But these were desperate times, calling for desperate measures. And they were successful; Gold and Silver and Starred and Steel and Black, the Exalted struck down the primordials.

As Gaia plummeted into the Underworld, life was nearly extinguished. Autocthon inverted his Core to create a new world for the few survivors, and a few lonesome islands in the Wyld are stabilized enough by artifacts and relics to maintain reality.

As a new Age dawns, the fragmented remnants of humanity face an alien world, and the presence of twisted Exalts with little wish to return to their former states, and the death curse of the Neverborn lying heavily on the champions of humankind.

[Xefas]

Gonna riff a bit off Recaiden's.

15.: The Black Wardens

Everything changed with one more Primordial. One more kin of the Empyreal Chaos joined the pilgrimage from the Faraway, and added their designs to Creation.

And so it was that when the Primordial War burned forth, the Exalted Host found themselves just the smallest bit outmatched. Fearing the worst, Autochthon activated his doomsday protocol, bringing to life a machine capable of manipulating the switch he had implanted in the Solar Exaltations just for such an occasion. The call went out, but after the first true Soulsteel Exalt emerged, many Solars were hesitant to follow suit. Not wanting to push them to the point of mutiny, only the willing were remade.

Accounts differ in the imperfect records of the Second Age, but it can be assured that around one hundred of these Onyx Tigers marched against the Primordials and, with their help, the Gods were finally victorious. What's more, the death inflicted by these grim carnifices lay a little more permanently than in Creation Prime.

No dead primordial soul attempted to reincarnate. And thus no Underworld was formed. And why? Their soul had not been mangled - but obliterated! Sent shrieking into nothingness forevermore. The other Primordials surrendered with, if anything, greater-than-average terror.

With no Underworld to serve, no Neverborn to inflict madness upon them, and no way for them to become fully aware of Oblivion (though they still channeled its power in their more potent Charms), the Black Wardens served as gurus, spiritual guides and, when necessary, warriors of unparalleled destructive power in the First Age.

When their Solar cousins fell into madness, the Viziers feared the worst. But it was not so. Each Warden had traveled Creation a hundred times over, and felt the suffering and grieving of countless lives. Though still quite alien to mankind, undoubtedly so, they empathized with mortal life and its frailty, and stood against the Golden Tyrants.

Rather than the Usurpation occurring as an event of guile and subterfuge, it erupted as a vicious storming of the Solars' Calibration Feast, whereby the Black Wardens collectively beat their corrupt twins to death with a newspaper, shouting "No, bad Solars. Bad."

The Sidereals imprisoned the Solar shards, and while the First Age ended with the Solars' ability to maintain its wondrous mechanical infrastructure, the following era was not terrible. There was no Great Contagion. The Onyx Tigers lessened their wandering and spiritual teaching to pick up slack as defenders of Creation. In their capacity to annihilate Fair Folk, the Solars could never match. And the Terrestrial Bureaucracy rightly feared them.

This Second Age had no I AM, no electricity, or plumbing, or refrigeration, but it was pleasant enough.

Until the Black Exaltation's single flaw was discovered. With no Neverborn, they had no protection against the Akuma corruption process of the Yozi. Several of the greatest Wardens fell to the wiles of the fallen Primordials before such possibilities were even discovered. Through their machinations, the Jade Prison was ruptured. Their power far exceeded the Deathlords of Creation Prime, and every single one of the escaping Solar Shards were captured.

A second Great War looms. Lunars, Sidereals, Terrestrials, and the Exalted of Death stand united against two hundred Green Sun Princes, and their own greatest Elders, now Akuma in Yozi thrall.

[Lord Raziere]

The Three Hundred Sidereals

in this universe, when the Sidereals asked the Maidens for 200 more of their kind, the Maidens agreed.
two hundred more were made, two hundred Sidereals join their brethren and with three hundred Sidereals they were able to police the entire fabric of the Loom and keep it steady.
However during the First Age, there was no Five-Score Fellowship. The Sidereals was more fractious and complicated.
When the days before the Usupation came and the three hundred Sidereals looked into the future, there was more than the Vision of Bronze, Gold and Darkness. There was also, the Vision of Silver where the Sidereals persuaded the Lunars to unite with the Dragon-Blooded to take down the Solars and take over as the Lunar Deliberative, while some saw the Vision of Iron where the sidereal would kill all the Solars, put them in the Jade Prison- then go into the Underworld, corrupt them with the energies of the Void and raise these new Void Exaltations (Abyssals) as weapons of destruction against Creation's enemies.
However, One Sidereal didn't see any of this. He saw what truly happened. the Vision of Chaos.
What truly happened during the Usurpation, was that the Sidereals were not united. Sure, the Bronze faction still tried to kill all 300 Solars, but the Gold, Silver and Iron factions intervened in differing ways.
The Gold Faction, managed to saved some of the Solars, 100 of them.
The Bronze Faction managed to imprison 100 of them as well.
but the Iron Faction had managed to swipe the last 100 and make them into the Void Exaltations
Meanwhile the Silver Faction managed to persuade half the Dragon-Blooded and all of the Lunars to join their cause.
The Lunar Deliberative and their Dragon-Blooded then wiped out the Bronze Dragon-Blooded.

However, the remaining Solars and the new Voidars managed to recruit some of the Dragon-Blooded to their sides, the Lunars, the Solars, Voidars and Bronze Sidereals, then all began a complicated four-sided war called the Exalted War. Instead of a clean Usurpation, it was a messy war of succession.
No one really won.
Sure technically the Lunar Deliberative and their dragon-Blooded loyalists came out the most victorious, but it was a pyrrhic victory. Furthermore enough Voidars and Solars survived to continue their teachings to newer Solars and Voidars on the Threshold, while the Three Hundred Sidereals never became forgotten and are to this day, in a complicated cold war of espionage against each other while everyone in Creation has some measure of paranoia about Sidereals in disguise.

However, it gets worse.
During the Exalted War, many Celestial Exalted died and gone into the Underworld. not only Solars, but Lunars and Sidereals to Voidars however didn't as (unlike their Abyssals in canon) the nature of Voidar Exaltation is an innate acceptance of death and that all things die and pass on- that is to say, Voidars are guaranteed to pass into Lethe.
As a result, the Death Lords that became empowered by the Neveborn was not thirteen, but thirty. Thirty Death Lords to destroy Creation.
Instead of a Great Contagion, there was instead, A Great Invasion. The Thirty Death Lords invaded Creation with their undead armies, laying waste to everything.
However the Death Lords were completely uncoordinated in their assault, plus there was some backstabbing and plotting to use the Exalts against other Death Lords and well....the Great Invasion managed to destroy some of Creation but it ended up as a big flop because of all of the Death Lords scheming against each other and not enough scheming against Creation, or something. It just messed up. Too many Death Lords spoil the destroy the world soup.
However to this day, Shadowlands are more numerous and larger. oh and there is no empire ruling everything, the Great Invasion sorta toppled the Lunar Deliberative and now Creation has no real superpower but a lot of Exalts divided against each other.

eight hundred years after that however the Yozis somehow managed to get the Jade Prison and get all 100 remaining Solars out of it, then corrupted them all into Infernals.

So now Creation is completely messed up, thirty death lords are planning a newer better Great Invasion with plans to include this Contagion The Dowager keeps talking about, 100 Infernals are planning to take over the world and there is no united empire or force to stop them, the Exalts of Creation are too divided.