Exalted: Dead Waters

[Lumenskir]

As such, Lumen is in as soon as we can work out a way for him to join.

Wee! I'll actually be moving into a new place next Saturday, so I'll be a little late (no more than 2-3 hours). Based on my observations I guess I'll miss the first few instances of intra-Team Awful social attacks.

Working out a way for me to join should be easy-ish though, Calm'll be in the area looking for intel, stumble on the circle and their latest hijinks, and then become fast friends with them for some reason.

Someone post the whole log, dammit.

Yeah, my computer quit out on me when Garret first got on the boat and I figured I wasn't going to miss much by going to sleep instead. I guess I was wrong.

[PhoenixFlame]

Seeing as I'm next in the queue, I might aswell post my character and backstory here for perusal.

Blah blah, Backstory is longEarly Summer Rain hails from Ionia, a small city-state in the northeastern coast of the inner sea, somewhere between Cherak and Lookshy. A small but zealous city, renowned for the quality of its swordsmasters, Ionia has existed since the late first age, where it was the personal social engineering project of Princess Elesis the Invincible, second to Queen Merela herself. Much like the concept of Gunzosha commandos, Ionia cleaved closely to personal excellence and valor, specifically in regards to the blade. Indeed, swordsmanship shaped most facets of Ionian society. "The Blade is for carving one's heart, not for turning agaisnt the masses." Is one of Early Summer Rain's father's favorite lessons. He died when she was young, and was forced to live as a destitute orphan, but the sword inspired her despite her station.

Essentially, Ionia's somewhat inspired on romantic sengoku japan. However, due to the way Exalted as a setting works, and that Exalts are somewhat aware of how their world works, the city was originally designed as a breeding ground for Tiger Warrior prospects, elite bodyguard heroic mortals and dawn castes themselves. As such, the city-state has held a certian reverence for the solar exalted even to this day, albeit obfuscated by myth and word of mouth for centuries. Indeed, modern Ionians may not know that the glorious sword-saints of their history were in fact, the anathema of today.

However, the scholars of the realm knew this secret. Aided by records ancient as they are accurate, the satrap of Ionia had tolerated such idolatry in moderation if only because of the people's great fervor and prowess when converted to the realm's elite infantry. Also, Ionian swords are among the best of their kind, and one of the major tithes of the city.

Early Summer Rain however, was a hero. Heroes do horrible things in the name of being heroic, and when she learned the truth of Princess Elesis and the realm's involvement in their fate shortly after the Bull had destroyed the Tepet Legions, she approached the Satrap, passing through several of the magistracy's own elites like a fish through water with the aid of her sword school's senior class. The objective was simple, the prince of the earth would explain why he, an impostor, presumed to demand from them their fealty.

Summer Rain was, unfortunately, operating under the delusion she could slay a god with a metal stick. Yet, declaring that her mortal grasp exceed grasp, she slew him, at great cost to her fellows and self, stumbling victoriously from the palace, wounded and barely alive, with none of the brothers that had joined her.

She was taken before the council and exiled, to die in the wildnerness of her wounds as penance. She walked for two days in agony, dehydrated and enraged, and collapsed into a hole at the top of a humble earthen mound that had opened as if to swallow her. Bathed in the light of the sun she awoke to the hallucination of the tomb of her idol and great-ancestor, believing herself dead and having appeared at some final judgement.

However she was not dead, merely forged again in the fires of adversity as The Invincible, Princess Elesis' own incarnation, who's name she has taken, blade in hand, to reap the sins of this world.

But before that, she needs experience and to get far away from retribution. A boat will do. A swift one, far west where the realm cannot reach.

[Lumenskir]

Fair warning, internet has been out for a few hours here, no sign of when full functionality will be restored. I think I can access chat from my phone, but it'll be a wonky affair.

[Teal Mage]

Withdrawn.

Looks like you're up Drac.

[Girasol of Chaos]

What I learned:

1. Our plan worked. Again.
2. Carmen Sandiego did all the saving for us
3. We have some very convincing ladies on our team. They also spread the pain.
4. CRAZY TAXI YEAAAH
5. Garret can already steal shit like the Fourth wall and Vanish entirely for a while. Holy crap.

[Steel Shadow]

Things I learned:

1. Giving Sidereals heart attacks is the most fun thing in this game.
2. No matter how good Garret might get, Carmen will always be better.
3. Elesis is indeed the Invincible Sword Princess of Legend.
4. Sometimes everyone can show mercy, even for the most twisted of souls.
5. That's probably going to bite us one day.

Excellent game guys, looking forward to next week!

Best line award for the evening goes to Krylo, for:

...are you singing steel? Don't sing steel

Let's all give him a big hand, folks!

[Dracorion]

Alright, new character. With any luck, this one will manage to survive.

BackstoryBackstory

NOPE

[Dracorion]

What's that? 2X CHARACTER REACHAROUNDDDDD

BackstoryBackstory

Jubal was born to disgraced House Tepet, specifically a patrician offshoot of the House. Jubal was the firstborn of his family, though his father managed to sire seven other children before his death at the hands of Fair Folk. Throughout his youth, Jubal took care of his siblings, until he Exalted, his mother presented him with his father's falcon familiar as a gift and he was whisked away for higher learning. He graduated from the House of Bells some years later, and being expected to put himself to use, he joined the Wyld Hunt.

What he saw was other Dragon-blooded ruthlessly striking down men and women, some barely older than his brothers and sisters, for the sake of wiping out Anathema in the East. Jubal had never paid much attention to the Immaculate Doctrine, and though he knew what they were supposed to be, what he heard was people yelling in rage, seemingly justified, that they were being murdered for the crime of enlightenement.

He couldn't handle it, and might've gone mad if it weren't for the companionship of Tomiko, his falcon familiar.

Jubal voicing his reservations was starting to bother his superiors, so after some time of service in the Hunt, they approved his return to the Blessed Isle. He enjoyed returning to his brothers and sisters, even as he secretly wondered if any of them could become Anathema. But no, they were too pure for that.

Still, a young Dragon-blood couldn't be expected to sit around the Isle forever doing nothing, and Jubal didn't want to go back to the Hunt. He managed to acquire a cushy temporary position: the Realm was launching a new ship with an all-new crew on their maiden voyage, along with two Dragon-blooded officers, as a test of everyone's skills. Cynis Layoro, a Wood Aspect who had been placed in charge thanks to her family connections rather than any personal merit, and himself.

Their job was simple: collect tribute from two Realm satrapies in the West, the Neck and Wavecrest. In particular, the satrap of Wavecrest had reported that sailors from a small island in the west of the archipelago called Tofanis had been trading in black jade. A deposit had clearly been found by the islanders and hadn't been reported to the satrap to be factored into the tribute, and they and the crew were to investigate it until they found the deposit and force the islanders to start paying tribute.

The journey was without incident and the ship eventually arrived in Tofanis, after making a stop in Wavecrest. They had been instructed to tell the villagers they were preparing for a Wyld incursion and needed to rest on their island for some time, until they found the jade. During their stay, Layoro was content to laze around and let Jubal deal with ordering the crew around.

It wasn't long after their arrival that Jubal met a pretty mortal girl with long black hair named Mara. She was engaged to another man in the village, and Jubal was too principled to whisk her away, but the two became fast friends. She admitted to him that she only accepted the man's proposal because she lacked other options in life, though she wished to leave her home island.

Then Jubal made a mistake. He publicly asked Mara to join him for a chat one night, and her fiancée misunderstood and confronted him. Jubal told the man, Joren, that he had no ill intentions toward Mara, though Joren wouldn't believe him. Jubal told his men to subdue Joren, and that's when everything went to hell.

Joren turned out to be much more capable than anyone had given him credit and killed a number of Jubal's crew, forcing Jubal to knock him unconscious. Just then, Layoro reported that they had found the jade, and when she saw Joren, she assumed the villagers were committing treason. And as much as he tried to argue, Jubal couldn't convince her otherwise.

Layoro ordered their men to set fire to the village and kill any who tried to stop them, and Jubal simply did his best to stop villagers from throwing their lives away. Still, he felt he had to do something good in all this, and he offered Mara her chance, to come with him as far as the Neck, so she could see the rest of the world like she wanted, and she accepted.

The islanders didn't take to the burning of their village peacefully and fought back, and Layoro decided to cut their losses and retreat with Jubal, Mara, and the surviving crew back to their ship. They sailed away from the island of Tofanis, and Layoro insisted they head for the Neck as scheduled. She had become frustrated with the events at the island and Mara's stay on their ship and grew reckless about their route, with the crew being too inexperience and unwilling to stand up to her to point out the dangers.

On the fifth day after their departure from Tofanis, the ship was suddenly beset by a terrible storm, nearly hurricane-level winds, that threatened to tear it apart. A storm mother was taking her rage out on the ship, and even if anyone realized that there was nothing they could do.

When Jubal woke up, he found himself on a piece of the ship's wreckage, with Tomiko pecking insistently in his ear, having washed up on a deserted shore. No one else was around, and when Jubal put himself together, he found his way to Gullwing and realized he was in Abalone. He stayed in the town for some days, trying to keep his identity hidden as he searched for any survivors. None turned up.

During this time, Jubal's thoughts went back to Anathema. He had barely seen Anathema show a much reckless disregard for life as Layoro, and he wondered again if they were really demons.

After waiting in Gullwing, Jubal made his way to Gateway to see if any of the ship's crew had turned up there, again trying to hide his identity. Somehow, he had been filled with great shame to be a Dragon-blood. If nothing else, he swore never to stand by and let someone commit injustices with such reckless disregard like Layoro had done.

He heard no news in Gateway either, and from what he could find out, no survivors had been found on other islands. Jubal considered going back to the Blessed Isle, but decided against it. To his knowledge none of his siblings had Exalted, and even if they joined the army, they couldn't face as much danger as a Dragon-blood would. With luck, they would be safe, so he could put off a family visit for now. Instead, Jubal decided not to report his survival, and to stay in the West. There were questions about Anathema and Dragon-blooded he wanted answers for, and perhaps he could find them among the many islands of the region, and the mortals, Gods, Godbloods and Dragon-blooded that inhabited them.

[Lumenskir]

Friend came in from out of town, so I'll probably be a little late (no more than 3 hours) and possibly a little tipsy (but still coherent).

[Girasol of Chaos]

What I learned this session:

1. I can throw all of the knives. All of them.