Exalted: Shadow and Steel - Interest Thread

[Red Mage Black]

Originally Posted by Krylo

Blind exists. It's diminished sense at six points:

Wow, how in the name of (Unconquered Sun/Luna/Maidens/Neverborn/Yozi) did I miss that? Guess it's time to call it quits for early morning character building. Anyway, thanks for pointing it out, Krylo. I really mean it.

Major Edit: Right then, finally finished it after working on the details all day, which I'll admit there WERE a few distractions. ANYWAY...

MotivationSince he was born blind, his father, also a Sidereal, would tell him of the stories he had read of the Solar Exalts and their unending heroism throughout the Primordial War and the First Age. However, the stories of how they fell, how they were betrayed was truly heart wrenching. If these were heroes of the people, as glorious as they were, then why would people want to seal them away? That was something he didn't understand. It wasn't until years later, years after his father had passed and his Exaltation that he had found out one fundamental thing. While it was people of his same Exalt and caste that sealed them away, there were still Sidereals that wanted them to return. While not the exact same goal as the Gold Faction, he truly believed that the Solars could be heroes once again, if they just got the chance to prove themselves once more. That people big and small would stop fighting and peace would reign. A childish thing yes, but something he still clings to this day.

Flaws, Merits, Personal History and Exaltation. Not too great, but better then any other ideas I had. Things always sound better in your mind.
Blind: Lazerus was born this way, always in the dark(metaphorically speaking) about what things always looked like. His curiosity always supersedes him however when it comes to touching things and if he isn't careful, even tasting them.

Vibration Sense: This didn't come until after Exaltation. It helped him discover something important and save lives. He was scared of it at first, when he couldn't tell what was happening, but he learned to focus on his during the event.

Heirloom: This wasn't from his father, but his mother. It always felt strangely warm on his ring finger. He could tell it wasn't a wedding band, but from what he was told, it was a ring his grandfather always use to wear. At this moment in time, he can't tell if it's magical and hasn't been able to find out the fate attached to it.

A few days after the death of both his parents, he was sent off to live with a friend of his parents. The woman ran a group home for orphaned children like himself. No matter how many times he asked, she would not answer the one question he wanted to know, "What happened to my parents?" She regarded him with quiet respect, even as the other children refused to play with him. He had his own things he wanted to learn, so he hung around the caretaker more, gaining what knowledge she would share.

That fateful vision came to him several times over the years that would follow during his time at the group home. He was standing at the foot of the orphanage and a fire was burning off in the kitchen and spreading quickly, he could smell the smoke. Someone was in there crying. A child? A woman? The cries were never that clear. Even as he grew old enough to leave on his own, he stayed at the group home, helping out with the children the best he could. Entertaining them with epic stories of 'The Heroes of The Sun'. He would always end it before he got to the part where 'One of the Heroes of Heaven betrayed the group out of the spite in his heart'. The 'Blind Storyteller' the kids would call him.

The event came to pass during Calibration. Where some local thaumaturges had gotten too confident for their own good and summoned a First Circle Demon. It swept through the village, taking it's anger out on some buildings. The caretaker was stoking a fire to help warm up the group home when it smashed into the building, bowling over the burning wood. Before he awoke, the vision hit him again, but this time it threw him off the bed. As he got up, he felt around and heard the shouting. With a fire in the building, everyone had to get out. As he ushered everyone out of the group home, he stood there, facing the door. There it was again, the crying. Only now, now he knew where it was coming from. It confusing him though, every sound he heard, it was almost as if it was right next to him. Not to mention the ground, he could feel strong vibrations and if he tried focusing enough, he would find whatever was making them happen. As he ran inside to find it, he could feel them getting stronger. It wasn't until the caretaker almost ran into him, clothing singed, that he knew things were coming true. "I saw this. I saw this happening. I didn't know when it would happen." He would tell her as they went out. "I knew it. I was just hoping that thing wasn't going to come as close as it did." That only peaked his interest as he placed a finger on his forehead, the caste mark was burning before, but it was slowly cooling down.

After that day, she promised to bring him where he needed to go. Yu-Shan, home of the Celestial Bureaucracy and Bureau of Heaven.

[Sithdarth]

This should be all the mechanics. Now all I have to do is finalize the back story.

[Red Mage Black]

Well, I fixed the background explanations and history stuff. I think they fit better then what I had there before.

[Krylo]

A few things: Firstly, I believe I've got my character hammered out:

Backstory
Background
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Ledaal Masik was born a dynast, a member of the Ledaal family. A family which, though not on par with the Mnemons, was quite powerful and respected, with a large number of Air Aspects and sorcerers. This, his family surmised, was to be his future as well.

However, the blood of the Dragons ran thin in Masik's blood, and, despite his excellence in all of his scholarly pursuits and lack of clear weaknesses elsewhere, the dragons did not choose him. He was not sure whether to be relieved or ashamed as such a fate meant he would never be important to his family... but then again it meant he would never be important to his family, and thus would gain a level of freedom for himself that 'true' dynasts never gained.

For awhile the boy, who was quickly becoming a man, stayed on the Blessed Isle, continuing to study, as it pleased him to do so. However, he was not a man who could merely study. He wished to see the world. To help people in need. And it is to this end that he joined the immaculate order.

His kung-fu was, perhaps, not the strongest, but nonetheless he went on a small number of successful Wyld Hunts as an apprentice, though never as a master. And, at first, he was self assured. He believed he was doing the right thing, and saving the people of the threshold. Though he rarely confronted the anathema directly, preferring to provide a more... supportive role to his brothers in arms, as a death in battle was not what he sought (despite the Immaculate's promise that if he died in battle with Anathema his reincarnation would be chosen by the dragons).

However, as time went on, this feeling quickly of heroism quickly faded. He was exposed to the blood thirst of Dynasts who claimed to be heroes, the compassion of Anathema he was taught were monsters, and of populations who feared his order just as much as, if not more than, the anathema themselves.

So it was that on his fifth hunt, in an eastern satrapy of the realm, his doubt grew to levels that he could no longer abide, and he spoke with the people as his companions hunted. Though he did not interrogate them as to the location of the Anathema, but rather watched, and explored, and saw the people. He listened to their conversations, of how they reacted to the Anathema who had supposedly been camping nearby for months.

What he found was surprising: They did not fear the solar in their midst. At least not anymore. The anathema had saved them from bandits, had aided them in their trials, and over all used his power only to help these people.

The Order, of course, claimed such was simply the demonic powers of the Anathema twisting the minds of lesser men. But Masik was unsure. An uncertainty that cracked his faith in the hunt entirely when they met this Anathema and were greeted not with violence, but with offers of compassion. Offers to turn away, to surrender.

The anathema held back blows that could kill, avoided direct confrontation with the mortal soldiers, Masik included, and attempted to merely chase the hunt off. This 'monster' had no intentions of murder. Something the dragonblooded leader of the hunt did not share with the Anathema, and, in an unfortunate stroke, the dragonblood's experience and willingness to kill led the Anathema to defeat.

However, Masik, coward that he was, found that not even he could stand by for this, and so he tackled the fire aspect before him, his arms moving to hold the daiklave wielding warrior into a clinch, but, much to Masik's surprise the fire did not burn him, as he had expected it to.

Instead he felt warmth as wisps of gold and violet radiated from him and pushed back the angry flames of the dragonblooded warrior, whose lack of training in the martial arts proved to be his undoing, as Masik held him tight while the other Anathema delivered a single crushing blow to the huntsman's face and knocked him unconscious.

Even as an exalt of the unconquered sun, however, Masik still feels that he is too weak to go up against the forces of corruption in creation. That he is too young, and new, for he has seen what happens to those newly exalted who let their power go to their head. And so he seeks powers long forgotten by any who yet live, led by disturbing memories of an age long past whose golden rulers sank to debauchery and sin, haunted with the fear that he too may find his future such. That he may become 'anathema' as the Dynasts claim all like him are.

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Cliff Notes for Arhra's Questions
TL;DR's for things in the backstory, and things that aren't in the backstory because they weren't interesting enough:

Firstly, tell everyone a bit about the important features of your character. the major elements that shape them.

Firstly: He's a coward. Valor 1 and all. This is actually character important and is one of the main reasons his Motivation isn't something like "Restore Lethe" or "Replace the Realm with a mortal run democratic government" or something. He feels he is too weak to do anything as it stands.

Secondly: He is afraid in more ways than just cowardice. His throwback was a monster, and he lives in fear that he will end up like her, and will go out of his way to do the right thing. Not that he wouldn't do the right thing anyway (compassion 3), but this acts as a driving motivator for it even beyond his own soft heart.

Thirdly: After being on both sides of the Dynasty, and seeing how those under its protection live compared to how the Dynasts themselves live, he despises them. He is also envious of them for the life he once had, but he refuses to admit it, even to himself. Such feelings of envy for a group whose rich and easy life comes from the pain and toil of their 'lessers' makes him feel like he has too much in common with his throwback.

Something aso worth thinking about is where did those Backgrounds come from?

Past Lives 5 -> Manse -> Had some bracers. Pretty boring to write about really. You and I can hammer out the details of the manse sometime if you want, Arhra.

Secondly, the forming of circles. Why is your person going to join up with the others?

Safety in numbers, and he requires assistance to complete his motivation. Or at least he believes he does. For a chosen of the sun he is not very self-assured.

But what I think is more important is the question of why does your character have that Motivation?

He believes he is too weak to do anything worthwhile as it stands. He's afraid of the Realm. He's afraid of the deathlords. He's afraid of... well dying mostly. And he thinks that if he can get more power he'll stop being afraid. That if he mastered sorcery he could DO something. Stand up to them!

Mostly he wants to stop being so afraid.

...But really 'spending experience to increase valor to 2' sounds like a shitty motivation, so instead SORCERY!

And my character sheet is attached. Other than possibly using the manse building rules to make his manse background more interesting, and/or altering some intimacies (I hate intimacies), I don't think I'll be changing anything any time soon.

On crafts/ability points: Arhra has (perhaps tentatively?) ruled that normal crafts take half the points due to the specialization of the craft skill and whatnot. Magitech still costs a full point per, though.

I don't think anything else should be weird though.

[Krylo]

And one more post, simply to have all the character bios in their most recent iterations posted in one place for easy reference.

Note: I did not check any of them over and probably won't.

You may notice ObscureJones is missing. This is because he only did a single draft and then hasn't posted recently. Between that and the 14 total posts, I'm assuming he has slimmed.

Edit: And Aero and Relm are missing because their stat blocks are pretty incomplete and I don't want to fill in a sheet and do all the derived stuff and what not off of what they posted so far.

And my own is missing because it is right up there and there's a maximum of five attachments per post.

[Red Mage Black]

Cripes, look like the explanation on Exaltation messed up on me. Completely fixed though. Since Krylo has it up in that maybe I'll remove it from my post then?

Anyway, Relm isn't missing, but I'll let 'er know on AIM.

[Overcast]

Some more esoterics about Syren's mindSyren is a bit mild mannered as far as things go, he isn't a coward, isn't impatient isn't a monster and most definitely not a flake. He is a man of his convictions and duties and only really only escalates above his averageness when confronted by them.

This subtle mixture of nonchalance and dutifulness is what had him set his goals to such an extreme high, because he is not perfectly sure of how to get there but also has no idea what he wants at a smaller level. He hopes that as opportunities present themselves he will work hard to solve them and eventually the small answers will become big ones, and big ones into the biggest.

[Relm Zephyrous]

Well, other than my backgrounds and equipment, I'm not sure whats missing.

Background is Resources 3, Cult 2, Artifact 2 (Assault Crossbow), and I'm not entirely sure what I would have in the way of equipment, whether misc items need to be listed, armor, trinkets, and so on. This is mainly due to inexperience I guess than anything else though, so I'll consider what.

[Red Mage Black]

Maybe I should join the club then, since I didn't include it with the bio.
Lazerus's mind never truly left the group home or his childhood fancy of big heroes. Even after Exaltation and training, he only ever found an even better way to make his dreams come true, but also like a child, he doesn't like scary things, something also heightened by his lack of sight. His fascination with his father's armor is more along the lines of a child trying on a breastplate and when it finally doesn't weigh him down entirely, wearing it whenever he can. The amulet and bracers are also of the same thing, when he learns that they help prevent people being able to hurt him. His courage, if any at all, comes from wearing these items. If he's without any of them, he cowers. Even if he can see where someone is coming from, he can't see their weapon and where it's coming from. His motivation, as stated before, comes more from childhood fancy and the knowledge he learned that helps him keep going.

Though his mind isn't entirely childish. His conviction stems from the stories he read and his refusal to let these things go. His compassion comes from his understanding of his life at the group home. Of children who lost their parents or were just abandoned. He lived like that for a good part after his parents were killed. So, he can't stand the thought of others suffering, especially children. Another reason he wants the Solars back, because he thinks they'll help the needy and suffering. His Temperance is as it is because of his curiosity and inability to control himself when he has the chance to see things through touch and sometimes, try to lick them to see what they taste like. An awful habit. His Valor is as it is because he's still like a frightened child when it comes to anything involving outright violence and is afraid of what he can't see. The other fear attached to that is being left alone, like in a forest, as for most of his life hes been guided around by someone and it's hard to follow the vibrations of footsteps that aren't there.

Overall, he's childish, but he's hesitant to use the charms he learned. Having them in your line of sight doesn't mean he actually needed vision, just that he needed to be facing them and as long as he could tell where they were by where the vibrations stopped, he confident enough to use them.

[Krylo]

Originally Posted by Relm Zephyrous

Well, other than my backgrounds and equipment, I'm not sure whats missing.

Background is Resources 3, Cult 2, Artifact 2 (Assault Crossbow), and I'm not entirely sure what I would have in the way of equipment, whether misc items need to be listed, armor, trinkets, and so on. This is mainly due to inexperience I guess than anything else though, so I'll consider what.

Filled out a sheet for you.

You're one BP over. I wasn't gonna check, but changing formats basically requires me to go through all the numbers, so.

Also: Assault Crossbows aren't in the core book. Are you using a supplement? If so what page? Short Powerbows are the only artifact two archery item in core.

And any thing with '???' should probably be filled in. Though that's mostly in the fluff sections.

As for equipment--anything you have should be listed. With the possible exception of basic clothing.

You can buy anything that is equal to or under your resources value. Other than Arhra putting his foot down if you go way overboard, you can spend as much as you want so long as no single item is over 3 dots cost. In the game proper, buying an item with a cost equal to your current resources background will reduce your resources background by one dot.

You may also have a number of items equal to your resources score (in this case 3 of them) that are of higher than normal quality. The rules for those are on 365 of the core book.

Other than that go crazy.