General Exalted Discussion XVI: Chej Kejak, Pokegod Trainer!

[Hiro Protagonest]

While I would like to play an Infernal at some point, the only Exalted game I really want to play is Burn Legend.

[Rater202]

While I would like to play an Infernal at some point.

Don't use the 2.5 Errata while playing Infernals.

They kind of fall apart at that point.

[horngeek]

Don't use the 2.5 Errata while playing Infernals.

They kind of fall apart at that point.

The issue is that Infernals were built to exploit several holes that were actually fixed in 2.5- without those holes... yeah.

[Rater202]

The issue is that Infernals were built to exploit several holes that were actually fixed in 2.5- without those holes... yeah.

And that's why you don't use that Errata for an Infernals game.

Just like, make the circle mostly infernals.

...Even though the most fun I've ever had playing exalted was an Infernal in a party of mostly "Good Guy" splats.

This was in two games, both in the same group.

...except my Loyalist Infernal in one was the least evil character by the end of the game

[Lix Lorn]

You can do whatever you like as long as you're careful.

[horngeek]

My interest in Infernals, like my interest in Abyssals, is either as NPC antagonists or in their capacity to make the Yozi/Neverborn go 'oops'.

[Rater202]

My interest in Infernals, like my interest in Abyssals, is either as NPC antagonists or in their capacity to make the Yozi/Neverborn go 'oops'.

You'd limit things that were designed with the intention of being PCs to the purgatory of NPCdom unless the Player wanted to play what would statistically be a rarity?

also, I don't think the Deathknights have a way to make the Neverborn Go oops.

Redeeming into a Solar that's free of the Curse might make a Deathlord go "Maybe I should have picked a different champion" but the Neverborn are kind off, um, Isn't it like very difficult for them to get over their reched existence long enough to give a f*** about things?

[golentan]

My interest in Infernals, like my interest in Abyssals, is either as NPC antagonists or in their capacity to make the Yozi/Neverborn go 'oops'.

I'd say infernals are way more sympathetic than abyssals, almost universally.

I mean, if solars are sympathetic, surely infernals are for the same reasons. Both faction's complaints are basically the same. The morally dubious rulers of creation in a previous era were overthrown in a morally dubious way by their subordinates and sealed away so that they would never again trouble the land and endanger the people who overthrew them. Now they seek to return to their (in their mind) rightful thrones while opposed by many forces in positions of power and are often aided by illegal and oppressed cults in regions where they can't operate openly. Despite this, neither group is monolithic, and in fact fights between them and their fellows may well be the largest part of the conflict they face. Many green sun princes are benevolent, whether they be true believers or worry that their success in their assigned tasks may result in the deaths of innocents. Many others, similar to many solars, are psychotic loons with a god complex and the ability to massacre a city far more easily than should be manageable.

Infernals are more sympathetic to me if anything because they have all tasted failure. They know in a very deep seated way what it is to be mortal and powerless in the face of impossible odds, while when the chips were down solars were given the power to succeed. I love infernals as a villain splat, mind, but portraying them as untempered villains while holding solars up as heroes always seemed really weird. I like nuance and moral ambiguity in my exalted. I like some infernals who can be convinced to flip on their masters by appealing to their conscience as much as I like the ones hamming it up as b-movie villains, and I like solars, dragonbloods, sidereals, and lunars who often fill the same roles. There is no good guy splat in exalted, and the only ones who got hit in my mind with the villain ball are the abyssals, which I view as a mistake caused by the overbearing resonance rules and the mono-black shade that the fluff got painted. But there are good guys on an individual basis.

[ChaosArchon]

I'd say infernals are way more sympathetic than abyssals, almost universally.

I mean, if solars are sympathetic, surely infernals are for the same reasons. Both faction's complaints are basically the same. The morally dubious rulers of creation in a previous era were overthrown in a morally dubious way by their subordinates and sealed away so that they would never again trouble the land and endanger the people who overthrew them. Now they seek to return to their (in their mind) rightful thrones while opposed by many forces in positions of power and are often aided by illegal and oppressed cults in regions where they can't operate openly. Despite this, neither group is monolithic, and in fact fights between them and their fellows may well be the largest part of the conflict they face. Many green sun princes are benevolent, whether they be true believers or worry that their success in their assigned tasks may result in the deaths of innocents. Many others, similar to many solars, are psychotic loons with a god complex and the ability to massacre a city far more easily than should be manageable.

Infernals are more sympathetic to me if anything because they have all tasted failure. They know in a very deep seated way what it is to be mortal and powerless in the face of impossible odds, while when the chips were down solars were given the power to succeed. I love infernals as a villain splat, mind, but portraying them as untempered villains while holding solars up as heroes always seemed really weird. I like nuance and moral ambiguity in my exalted. I like some infernals who can be convinced to flip on their masters by appealing to their conscience as much as I like the ones hamming it up as b-movie villains, and I like solars, dragonbloods, sidereals, and lunars who often fill the same roles. There is no good guy splat in exalted, and the only ones who got hit in my mind with the villain ball are the abyssals, which I view as a mistake caused by the overbearing resonance rules and the mono-black shade that the fluff got painted. But there are good guys on an individual basis.

You sir just inspired me to make an Infernal as my next Exalt. Also that was worthy of a 3 stunt die imo

[Rater202]

I like some infernals who can be convinced to flip on their masters by appealing to their conscience as much as I like the ones hamming it up as b-movie villains.

The two are not mutally exclusive.

Very few acts villainy must always 100% of the time be literally acts of villainy.

"..And once I've killed you and crushed your heroine smuggling operations, I'm going to steal all of your filthy drug money, and use it to fund an Orphanage!! MUhahahahahahahaha!"
-Said with a strait face by the Infernal Who would one Day become the Harmonious Friend, while stroking his Cat Familiar.

[golentan]

The two are not mutally exclusive.

Very few acts villainy must always 100% of the time be literally acts of villainy.

"..And once I've killed you and crushed your heroine smuggling operations, I'm going to steal all of your filthy drug money, and use it to fund an Orphanage!! MUhahahahahahahaha!"
-Said with a strait face by the Infernal Who would one Day become the Harmonious Friend, while stroking his Cat Familiar.

I know. I meant villainy as actual villainy, not acts of villainy. All infernals should engage in Ham to Ham Combat and Contractual Genre Blindness. The villains just combine the two with picking up the villain ball and using their power to drive for the endzone.

[horngeek]

You'd limit things that were designed with the intention of being PCs to the purgatory of NPCdom unless the Player wanted to play what would statistically be a rarity?

also, I don't think the Deathknights have a way to make the Neverborn Go oops.

Redeeming into a Solar that's free of the Curse might make a Deathlord go "Maybe I should have picked a different champion" but the Neverborn are kind off, um, Isn't it like very difficult for them to get over their reched existence long enough to give a f*** about things?

My interest personally. Play whatever you want.

And it was a pithy comment, don't read too much into it. What I mean is, I have little interest in playing the types of characters that those splats generally trend to.

[HalfTangible]

The two are not mutally exclusive.

Very few acts villainy must always 100% of the time be literally acts of villainy.

"..And once I've killed you and crushed your heroine smuggling operations, I'm going to steal all of your filthy drug money, and use it to fund an Orphanage!! MUhahahahahahahaha!"
-Said with a strait face by the Infernal Who would one Day become the Harmonious Friend, while stroking his Cat Familiar.

I prefer the villain who's acts are far more mundane and neutral than he thinks they are.

I'm sigging this and NOTHING YOU CAN DO WILL STOP ME!! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

[Rater202]

I prefer the villain who's acts are far more mundane and neutral than he thinks they are.

I'm sigging this and NOTHING YOU CAN DO WILL STOP ME!! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

1. I wouldn't have tried to stop you.

2. I am now Thinking of Disgaea. All the Demons claim to be eivl, but with the Exceptions of Tyrant Bal or Overlord Zenon or other Freak Cases, the vast majority are Chaotic Neutral at worst(By DD2, Laharl is textbook Chaotic Good, not that he'll admit it.)

In the first game, after reclaiming his rightful throne as the Overlord, Laharl is trying to figure out what to do next.

He brifely considers conquering the earth, but gives up becuase the best things he can think of is making it rain pepper, thous causing uncontrollable sneazing, and giving all the children an incredibly addictive videogame, thus robbing them of precious hours of sleep.

...I just realized that it'd be pretty easy to model the Cast of Disgeae as Exalted.

Laharl-It'd be pretty easy to just claim he's an infernal(Demon), but most of his powers feel more Solar in nature. Since he's only half Demon anyway, I'd say a high inheritance Demon-Blooded Solar, probably Dawn Caste

Etna-Even though she's full Demon, none of her powers really feal the way a primordial charm's would, So I've got no clue, other than the presense of Mutations to count for wings and tail

Flonne: Twilight Caste, Focused on Healing. ossible Also Sorcery, since if you teach her magic she becomes more useful than Laharl. Mutations for wings

Defenders of Earth: Gordon and Jenifer are Solars, Thursday and Kurtis are Alchemicals.

[SaurOps]

The two are not mutally exclusive.

Very few acts villainy must always 100% of the time be literally acts of villainy.

"..And once I've killed you and crushed your heroine smuggling operations, I'm going to steal all of your filthy drug money, and use it to fund an Orphanage!! MUhahahahahahahaha!"
-Said with a strait face by the Infernal Who would one Day become the Harmonious Friend, while stroking his Cat Familiar.

The cat was out of the bag after someone got caught trying to sneak Yurika Misumaru, Usagi Tsukino and Rei Miyamoto across the country in a van.

[Rikandur_Azebol]

And nothing you can do will stop him, Mwa, Ha, Ha, Ha !

[Rockphed]

Did they ditch mechanical bonuses for acts of villainy?

[Phelix-Mu]

Alright, talk to me about Autochthon!

1.) I understand he was not always on good terms with those other Primordials. Why/how did this manifest? Which sources are best on this bit?

2.) In my game, I have cast him in his role as celestial inventor par excellence, but without actually knowing much about his works. I said he made the Loom of Fate and the Pattern Spiders, and thus basically set the basis for the system that ensures that the "future" is something that is under some [heavily debated level of mechanistic control], but generally desiring to make sure that Creation would continue to exist. But this seems to have him stepping all over now-Cecylene and SWLiHN, who have very similar themes. I have already explained my headcanon distinction in-game, but I'm interested in the views of the other Exalted vets on the Playground.

3.) Autochthon left. I am reading about this, but, again, want to know how you all see the process.

4.) Because the Loom of Fate is screwed up, the characters are looking for its maker. Thus I'd like to know if there are any established mechanical ways to do this, before I fluff up a suitable quest for E6.

5.) I saw earlier debate on the matter of Autochthon's illness. Where is this most fully detailed? I am about to trawl the relevant MoEP and CoCD, but is there a website with a fairly accurate summary of these issues. Really, anything to cut to the chase; had my fill recently of verbose Exalted literature.

Thanks in advance. My Solars are striving to save Creation from the dreaded "inversion," and perhaps I will have The Playground be some enigmatic god in the Bureau of Destiny, to illustrate the help y'all have given me over these...many months, lol.

[The_Snark]

2) Celestial inventor sounds about right. As for differentiating him from Cecelyne and SWLiHN... hmm. Those two embody cosmic law and order as abstract principles, and I don't think Autochthon does. Maybe the Loom was a collaboration? Cecelyne and/or SWLiHN provided the ideas and underlying theory, while Authochthon was the engineer, the guy who took the ideas and made a working machine out of them.

Generally speaking, I think Autochthon views most things through the lens of building or creating things. He isn't kingly or commanding like Malfeas, but if he had to he could make a throne that inspires awe and loyalty in all who see it, and a sceptre to break those who resist his will, and a crown to see into the hearts of men. He's not the origin of living things, but once someone showed him the idea he could make a pretty good simulacrum. He's not the embodiment of order and reason, but he can make a machine that weaves chaos into an ordered cosmos.

4) Breaking through the Seal of Eight Divinities explicitly requires a plot device, I believe. (It's not supposed to be impossible, because there are plots which revolve around going from one world to the other, but there are no printed Charms or artifacts or whatnot that let you do it.)

5) I'm not sure the sickness is described in detail anywhere, but developer commentary seems to indicate it's a fundamental part of his nature: he's physically frail but brilliant, akin to Hephaestus (the crippled smith-god of Greek myth) or Piggy (from Lord of the Flies, the fat asthmatic kid who is nonetheless the smartest one there). That ties back into your first point/question, actually - both Hephaestus and Piggy are mocked and bullied by their peers, and I think the implication is that this happened to Autochthon too.

(My personal headcanon is that his sickness is literally or metaphorically linked to the creation of the Exaltations, the death of the Primordials and the birth of the Void: Autochthon was the only one who could create beings capable of slaying a Primordial, because he was the only one of them who could conceive of dying. Or possibly the other way around; the death of his kin might have changed his nature or made the sickness worse somehow. Maybe death and entropy are actually a repressed element of his natural themes, and the others shunned him because they subconsciously picked up on that! This is just me theorizing, of course, but since you're looking for material to use in a specific game rather than just by-the-books answers I figured I might as well offer it up.)

[Andreaz]

1.) I understand he was not always on good terms with those other Primordials. Why/how did this manifest? Which sources are best on this bit?

He was, so to say, the bullied kid whose toys everyone else smashed just for kicks. This is in part because Autochthon differs from the other primordials in that he's sick and dieing, but not much more is explained.

2.) In my game, I have cast him in his role as celestial inventor par excellence, but without actually knowing much about his works. I said he made the Loom of Fate and the Pattern Spiders, and thus basically set the basis for the system that ensures that the "future" is something that is under some [heavily debated level of mechanistic control], but generally desiring to make sure that Creation would continue to exist. But this seems to have him stepping all over now-Cecylene and SWLiHN, who have very similar themes. I have already explained my headcanon distinction in-game, but I'm interested in the views of the other Exalted vets on the Playground.

He likes to make stuff. And so he does stuff. Most his inventions aren't too thought over since he's more concerned about MAKING them than figuring out why.
At least one other feat of him is creating the Clay Man, a creature that became the basis for humanity and, I think, the mountain folk?
Also note that:
1) There's nothing inherently wrong with primordials stepping on each other's toes...they probably do it all the time
2) Cecelyne and She are not makers of the world, just regulators. Autochthon is a maker, and in that his greatest primordial overlap is Gaia.

Paralell to it, the loom is not as much a "future" thing than a "reality consistency" thing. It's operation has far more to do with making sure Up stays Up and Heat does not turn into Sharks. The very convenient side effect of that is you gain an incredibly powerful device/method to predict future events and alter them (or at least get a good idea of how). The predictive side is closer to Hari Seldon's psychohistory than farseeing (though the aesthetics are definitely the latter).

3.) Autochthon left. I am reading about this, but, again, want to know how you all see the process.

He was freaked out and left. There's not much to think about it.

4.) Because the Loom of Fate is screwed up, the characters are looking for its maker. Thus I'd like to know if there are any established mechanical ways to do this, before I fluff up a suitable quest for E6.

Never heard any of it. It's known to us that Autochthon perfected the loom to make the new engine for his inner world, but in-setting pretty much only autochthon knows that.

5.) I saw earlier debate on the matter of Autochthon's illness. Where is this most fully detailed? I am about to trawl the relevant MoEP and CoCD, but is there a website with a fairly accurate summary of these issues. Really, anything to cut to the chase; had my fill recently of verbose Exalted literature.

Try the Compass of Celestial Directions: Autochthonia. His "creature" side is not detailed too much, focus is on his "world" side. We do know, however, his sickness is an inherent part of his nature. It's as integral to his identity and existence as his personality and the concepts he created. Curing it would turn it into something else entirely.

Thanks in advance. My Solars are striving to save Creation from the dreaded "inversion," and perhaps I will have The Playground be some enigmatic god in the Bureau of Destiny, to illustrate the help y'all have given me over these...many months, lol.

You're welcome. I am not the best source here on him by far but hey, word gets around.

[Rikandur_Azebol]

Alright, talk to me about Autochthon!

Damned Autochton. He's mad scientist.

1.) I understand he was not always on good terms with those other Primordials. Why/how did this manifest? Which sources are best on this bit?

As far as my interpretation of clues goes, Autochton disliked when other Primordials broke his toys out of curiosity. Clay Man is one example. Gaia had contemptous "I look down on you, nerd" attiude towards Autobot as well. Lets say The Empyreal Chaos had erased 2 of Autochton's workshops because they were blocking his view from balcony ?

Plus his illness and weakness was creeping out the remaining Primordials. Why the heck he inflicted it upon himself ? My opinion ? Cause he integrated every inventive idea he came up with into himself, that's why.

This was the No-Motes.

And of course we shouldn't forget the image of Ebon Dragon being mean to the nerd.

2.) In my game, I have cast him in his role as celestial inventor par excellence, but without actually knowing much about his works. I said he made the Loom of Fate and the Pattern Spiders, and thus basically set the basis for the system that ensures that the "future" is something that is under some [heavily debated level of mechanistic control], but generally desiring to make sure that Creation would continue to exist. But this seems to have him stepping all over now-Cecylene and SWLiHN, who have very similar themes. I have already explained my headcanon distinction in-game, but I'm interested in the views of the other Exalted vets on the Playground.

He's the archetypal inventor. He invents and lets the results loose not caring really after the inventing is done. Example is Clay Man and Jadeborn. He made them and only told them to make stuff when they whined to him about purpose they want to have.

Made one hyper-tech race that was crazy science about breaking new frontiers of knowledge and science. They overstepped taboo he warned them with clear meaning about. He turned whole race, by accident, into first and biggest deposit of Soulsteel. Found the new material fascinating.

3.) Autochthon left. I am reading about this, but, again, want to know how you all see the process.

The reasons, as I understand, are two-fold. Solars bullied him by proxy to curse Jadeborn. Twilights were furious but were outvoted. Secondly Autochton knew about Great Curse and decided it's better to be away before Exalted kill him, too. Thus he shut himself in Elsewhere behind Seal of Eight Divinites. Easily openable from inside. Nearly impossible to open from outside.

4.) Because the Loom of Fate is screwed up, the characters are looking for its maker. Thus I'd like to know if there are any established mechanical ways to do this, before I fluff up a suitable quest for E6.

The only recorded, and almost successful, try to open Seal of Eight Divinities was trough Wyld-Shaping Technique and Hand of Great Maker implanted with Protoshinmaic Vortex. Seven of eight seals opened up before shutting back. Feel free to make it totally impossible riddle/lock/labirynthine-trap ... unless they open it from inside, of course.

And a side-note. Loom was screwed up by Exalted. Twilights made experiments to see how much motes it takes for Loom to tear !

5.) I saw earlier debate on the matter of Autochthon's illness. Where is this most fully detailed? I am about to trawl the relevant MoEP and CoCD, but is there a website with a fairly accurate summary of these issues. Really, anything to cut to the chase; had my fill recently of verbose Exalted literature.

It's the Void manifesting inside Autochton. Superfically similar to destructiveness of Underworld but less "clean". It mixes barrier between machine and flesh, rots boundaries and generally acts like cancer-like malady of the soul/mind and body. Freakshow cyber-mutations mandatory.

Thanks in advance. My Solars are striving to save Creation from the dreaded "inversion," and perhaps I will have The Playground be some enigmatic god in the Bureau of Destiny, to illustrate the help y'all have given me over these...many months, lol.

[Phelix-Mu]

Good, good, good. You guys are at least as helpful as the books, lol. Already got a couple excellent visuals out of that and maybe a scene or two.

Any more?

[Exthalion]

1.) I understand he was not always on good terms with those other Primordials. Why/how did this manifest? Which sources are best on this bit?

The only specific location I recall is in the Ink Monkies Daystar writeup where a really fancy machine Autochthon had made to help with his illness was snatched up by the Empyreal Chaos to make the Daystar. The Clayman was also vivisected before the creation of a lot of things like Humans (and I think Lintha).

That said, there is a place in Autothon where he keeps a working copy of all the best stuff his siblings ever made. (The stuff he liked most, not a set of Elemental Poles and Daystars) It is said that is the manifestation of his love for them and the best way he knows how to honor them. (It might only be the Neverborn, I don't remember.)

2.) In my game, I have cast him in his role as celestial inventor par excellence, but without actually knowing much about his works. I said he made the Loom of Fate and the Pattern Spiders, and thus basically set the basis for the system that ensures that the "future" is something that is under some [heavily debated level of mechanistic control], but generally desiring to make sure that Creation would continue to exist. But this seems to have him stepping all over now-Cecylene and SWLiHN, who have very similar themes. I have already explained my headcanon distinction in-game, but I'm interested in the views of the other Exalted vets on the Playground.

Well, he doesn't think a lot of things through. For example, much of the Imperial Manse lacks things like safety railing or has electricity arc through corridors because machines cant hurt him and it never occurred to him that they could hurt other people accidentally. Fate was apparently a group effort, as Isidorus got "other condsiderations" for agreeing to it even though he didn't like the idea.

3.) Autochthon left. I am reading about this, but, again, want to know how you all see the process.

We know that it was a very secret affair that involved a lot of planning.

He very quickly gathered/kidnapped a lot of humans to inhabit him and sustain him with their labor, souls, and prayers. Some were unwilling, some were not.
From first Edition: Those who would become the founders of the nations were already in his service and aided in his escape by building a manse from each of the magic materials in geomantically auspicious points throughout Creation that synched his Radiant Amphora with the Well of Souls. (If he comes back these might need to be re-calibrated to get the souls flowing again. They might also provide some sort of control/protection or be used to do bad things to him.)

4.) Because the Loom of Fate is screwed up, the characters are looking for its maker. Thus I'd like to know if there are any established mechanical ways to do this, before I fluff up a suitable quest for E6.

It is stated that it is far easier from the inside than the outside. An E8 Municipal charm is all that is required from Autochthonia, while from outside using a Protoshinmaic Vortex (Which the writer meant to be impossible to make before E7 even with Solar Charms but that got lost in the actual wording) only supposedly opened seven of the eight seals.

5.) I saw earlier debate on the matter of Autochthon's illness. Where is this most fully detailed? I am about to trawl the relevant MoEP and CoCD, but is there a website with a fairly accurate summary of these issues. Really, anything to cut to the chase; had my fill recently of verbose Exalted literature.

His illness manifest in two ways:
Gremlin Syndrome, a techno-organic cancer that infects the Maker and those who contract it. It causes his gears/mechanisms to grow fleshy masses and move with a malevolent life of their own. It also turns those with it into violent, nihilistic sociopaths. It does have a few fringe benefits like allowing Alchemicals to have natural children which may have implications for creating Mankind/the Exalted. Regions where this has occurred are called blight zones and are similar in some ways to the shadowlands.

The Void, essentially a constant loss of energy/order in his body. Unlike other primordials who need nothing else, he must feed on lower souls and human prayer. He can apparently also use the Wyld for similar purposes. Do note that the Pole of Smoke is not actually Void aligned, but is closest conceptually to it. (It is also infested with Gremlins) Presumably the damage/drain from blightzones is why the energy is being lost.

It is also a popular fan theory that the evolution of Alchemical Exalted into cities is part of a plan to get around his illness by replacing his fallible parts with Exalted prosthetics. Indeed, every city written up mentions some charm that does stuff for the Maker, like regulating and cleaning fluids or providing the energy to move one of his organ-continents.

[horngeek]

Incidentally, IIRC, the disease is a manifestation, in part, of Auto's theme of breaking barriers and achieving impossibilities.

It's impossible for a Primordial to be ill, but Autocthon is ill.

Primordials cannot die...

But Autocthon's disease will kill him.

(This same theme was why is was able to create the Exalted, which ended up killing Primordials)

[Rater202]

On Autocthon and his relationship to the other primordials.

Imagine that the Primordials are a family.

autochton is the youngest one, who was chained to the radiator in the basement becuase he was born crippled and Autistic, and who the other's f***ed with for fun.

[Phelix-Mu]

Thanks for all the help with Auto, everyone. If there any more responses, I'd be happy to hear them, especially on the matter of gremlins and the Void.

For my rendition, it looks like I am going to speed up Autochthon's decay in my Creation, so that, instead of Utopian communal society based on reason and order, there is a scarcity-based dystopia in which humans have gone through various mutations and evolutions to try to subsist in a world drowning in entropy. The few Alchemicals that remain and which have not been wired permanently into Auto's failing parts are a mix of insane, deformed, and despairing, but with a few champions that yet stave off the darkness, championing the order and justice that they were designed to embody. Anyone familiar with the old Dr. Who episode State of Decay may see some inspiration there.

There is no good guy splat in exalted, and the only ones who got hit in my mind with the villain ball are the abyssals, which I view as a mistake caused by the overbearing resonance rules and the mono-black shade that the fluff got painted. But there are good guys on an individual basis.

I totally agree with this. While it's not easy to rehab the undead and the Champions of Oblivion, I think there are shades of nihilism and self-centered denial of death that can be explored by the non-villainous Abyssals, even those not explicitly looking for redemption. After all, as much as life is both a place of positive and negative themes, just so death is both a balancing measure and a peaceful respite after the suffering of life. Even thus, undeath may challenge death ascendent, striving to continue even under the all-consuming beck of Oblivion.

As I have ranted before, the strength of Exalted is that the heroes are yet to be forged, and, whether the characters want to tread the steps of the angels or plumb the depths of perdition, they do so with heaps of awesome and the self-assurance of the Exalted. Want to create a new world based on socialism? Want to awaken the essence of every mortal? Want to replace essence-based god-worship with a Cheetos-based meritocracy of Heaven? Then do it, and none shall stand in the way of thy judgement and determination but thyself!

[Exthalion]

Thanks for all the help with Auto, everyone. If there any more responses, I'd be happy to hear them, especially on the matter of gremlins and the Void.

For my rendition, it looks like I am going to speed up Autochthon's decay in my Creation, so that, instead of Utopian communal society based on reason and order, there is a scarcity-based dystopia in which humans have gone through various mutations and evolutions to try to subsist in a world drowning in entropy. The few Alchemicals that remain and which have not been wired permanently into Auto's failing parts are a mix of insane, deformed, and despairing, but with a few champions that yet stave off the darkness, championing the order and justice that they were designed to embody. Anyone familiar with the old Dr. Who episode State of Decay may see some inspiration there.

That's fine, but do note that it isn't a communist utopia in the standard setting. The biggest nation is in the middle of a capitalist revolution, the formerly most progressive spent most of its history under stifling religious suppression of development, one's culture is based on being at war, etc. There are also teaming underclasses that live in the abandon depths of the cities, hardscrabble tunnel folk that live beyond the reach of the nations and their laws, and of course the existing communities of mutants.

[Phelix-Mu]

That's fine, but do note that it isn't a communist utopia in the standard setting. The biggest nation is in the middle of a capitalist revolution, the formerly most progressive spent most of its history under stifling religious suppression of development, one's culture is based on being at war, etc. There are also teaming underclasses that live in the abandon depths of the cities, hardscrabble tunnel folk that live beyond the reach of the nations and their laws, and of course the existing communities of mutants.

Thanks for reminding me; yes, just like all of Exalted, little is clear-cut black-and-white. It wasn't great all over before, but it's now an entirely different shade of crappy. Most of the past troubles have likely been cast aside, though, due to the problems with entropy and basic survival. The Exalts could probably survive, but the problem is that the normal humans don't do well when exposed to the blightzones, and they make the big gizmos work, so the Exalts are trying to protect as much of everyone as possible as the ship is sinking.

At least those Exalts that aren't insane/deformed/defunct.

Anyone have a quick, personal take on the castes of Alchemicals for me? No pressure, lol; session is in three hours.

[SaurOps]

Thanks for reminding me; yes, just like all of Exalted, little is clear-cut black-and-white. It wasn't great all over before, but it's now an entirely different shade of crappy. Most of the past troubles have likely been cast aside, though, due to the problems with entropy and basic survival. The Exalts could probably survive, but the problem is that the normal humans don't do well when exposed to the blightzones, and they make the big gizmos work, so the Exalts are trying to protect as much of everyone as possible as the ship is sinking.

At least those Exalts that aren't insane/deformed/defunct.

Anyone have a quick, personal take on the castes of Alchemicals for me? No pressure, lol; session is in three hours.

Orichalcum: Charismatic and forceful leaders.
Moonsilver: Slippery figures that are the stuff of whispered conspiracy theories.
Jade: Hard-struggling heroes attempting to keep everyone together.
Starmetal: Sneaky and full of guile, perpetually attempting to direct everyone in the direction that they have determined to be the best.
Soulsteel: Judge Dredd
Adamant: Secret Splat

[ChaosArchon]

I thought Adamants were the ones everyone whispered conspiracy theories about?