Hearing the Call.

[magnificentmomo]

What types of people with what kinds of motivations are usually called by each Exaltation? I remember Solars are supposed to be people that will do grandiose things that chance creation or some such and Lunars are supposed to be Stewards and have some sort of protective nature. What are the hard and fast rules for who gets what shard? Do you really listen to this or do you just make the character you want with the Exaltation you want?

 

[Haku1]

I think it's best not to pidgeon hole them exalts... least you start a program that massacres off all the interesting mortals in Creation.

 

[cyl]

I remember one of the night caste described in the caste book night : the Vanisher (he had a name starting with H before the title).


He was a really dirty scumbag, murderer, thief, deciever, and his exaltation not only made him stronger but made him much more efficient in his criminal activities.


Exalted are chosen for a reason, but since their fate (part of it at least) escape the Loom of Fate, they generally have free will and make their own decision... one of my pc started as a murderer and a thief, after 3 years of campaign as a solar, he fell to Walker in the Darkness who offered a greater power, and above all, no moral restrictions over his actions, as each of his bad deeds would strengthen the cause and weaken Creation.


But compared to others pc, he never had done anything great or spectacular... he was just himself, and did and enjoyed what he liked.


So IMHO, exalts have the innate ability to do great things, they are certainly chosen to do so, but what they do with the ability depends only on their will.


I exalted (uh, well, the US did, I was just a messenger) a scavenger lord, a crimimal, a ranger, a bandit lord, a mercenary ship captain, two wandering warriors, a Prince of a city state, a mad ingeneer, and a spirit hunter... two of them became abyssals (the criminal and the spirit hunter... both for their thirst for power), and the others are now at the head of a dominion that can rival Thorns or the Marukani Alliance, and they have almost 5000 newly awakened Dragon Kings as allies... but in the beginning, they were just a bunch of violent conquerors able to kill/poison/kidnap a ruler (or one of his loved ones) of a targeted city just to ensure their domination over it.


Most of the time, the Motivation of the exalt changes after his exaltation, and sometimes it takes time for an exalt to find it,  just look at Harmomious Jade... she was destined to be an ennemy of the solars (raised by a demon cult), yet the US chose her.


I think the most interesting characters are anti heroes selfish bastards survivors who exalt and are now somehow forced to realize that they can't just hide and live their own life in peace, and DO something.


So I don't think there's an "exalt profile".

 

[Chaka]

What types of people with what kinds of motivations are usually called by each Exaltation? I remember Solars are supposed to be people that will do grandiose things that chance creation or some such and Lunars are supposed to be Stewards and have some sort of protective nature. What are the hard and fast rules for who gets what shard? Do you really listen to this or do you just make the character you want with the Exaltation you want?

Solar Exaltations are meant to choose people who truly excel at their own chosen area, and the caste they earn reflects this. Lunar exaltations choose people who choose life and struggle onwards against any odds, and their castes represent how they survive (a full moon might struggle combatatively,  a changing moon use social methods, cunning and stealth and a no moon would outsmart and outwit their opponents, though this is obviously not always true.) Also, Lunars are always people with a strong desire to protect something, be it a town, a person or group, or even an ideal. Dragon-Blooded Exaltations aren't determined by their personality so much as their personality is shaped by their exaltation, as they're in the blood. Sidereals are often people who were inquisitive about the world around them, how things actually work, as well as being drawn to certain aspects of life, such as a future chosen of journeys being someone with a wanderlust, a hedonist destined to be a chosen of serenity, and so on. Abyssals are the dark reflection of the Solars, and are often people who could have been solars but never get the chance, and are often either gullible, greedy or simply evil in their mortal lives, as you must choose to become an Abyssal.


Of course, these are vastly generic descriptions, which means two people of any given exalt type and caste are vastly different people (for example, a witty socialite who thrives on court intrigue and a stone cold assassin who relies on stealth and subterfuge are both equally likely to become Changing Moon Lunars). Also, there's no black-and-white morality that says you Exalt. A despotic priest-king who kills thousands could be a Zenith solar, while an innocent young man desiring the strength to save his city for destruction could accept an Abyssal exaltation in an act of desperation, only to seek redemption later.

 

[Zaramis]

That's not entirely true about Sidereals, considering that their shards are not awarded but carefully planned for, they know when the next incarnation will be, who it will be, etc. Instead, they are created and groomed to become a Sidereal and accept their new role.

 

[Chaka]

Even people the Five-score fellowship don't manage to collect before their Exaltation exhibit those traits, and that's becoming increasingly more common.

 

[magnificentmomo]

Thank you Chaka, that was Exactly what I wanted. I knew there wasn't any moral compass, but I knew there were deciding factors. A citation would settle your's and Zararmis' dispute, as well as be beneficial to me: So all involved would profit!   :lol:

 

[Chaka]

MoEP: Sidereals, page 49:'Preparing for Exaltation'. Zaramis was right about the mechanics, though. Sidereals are the only Celestial Exalted who are born destined to Exalt, the others earn it, (though Sidereals naturally gravitate to areas of study and activities that reflect their destined caste, and are often quite talented individuals even before they exalt.) Fate shapes their personality somewhat, just as the elemental blood of the  Terrestrial Exalted shapes theirs.

 

[magnificentmomo]

Nifty keen, many thanks.

 

[Persell]

Even Sidereals can be somewhat sketchy though.  My Chosen of Secrets was a Haltan commando who specialized in stealth runs to Linowan encampments for intelligence-gathering or outright assassination.  Jupiter chose her anyway even though Saturn would have likely been a better choice.


Her sifu, also a Secrets, was horrified to find she could only passably read, had absolutely horrible penmanship, and had no real interest in learning sorcery.


She's about a 50xp character thus far, and she just picked up Terrestrial on the recent downtime.  Still no spells, and no real desire to get any. Except the one that lets you open the gates and Stormwind Rider.  She's real tired of walking everywhere.

 

[Unforgiven]

It's a tough statement, and I base my characters on neither of your choices..


I generally do one of the following.


1. I think about a character that I wanna play, and think about what kind of abilities I'd like my character to have.. after that, I look what kind of exaltation would fit best to my character's personality and/or virtues..


2. I decide I want to play a certain caste, and then come up with a reason/story why the unconquered sun/luna would have picked me as a member of that caste.. This usually takes me the longest to make a decent fitting and interesting background story.. After that I pick abilities which would suit my personality/char the most..


3. I go with the "exalted, but isn't very good at what the unconquered sun/luna chose him to be" This is what I tend to do lately.. not making stereotype characters, but create something that could lead to dramatic situations..


for example, I plan to make an Eclipse for an upcoming campaign.. but he's barely going to have any socialize/presence/performance charms to start out with.. he will start with high physical stats, low perceptive stats, and moderate social skills, and with mostly sneaky and survival skills.. he has a low temperence, and his elemental lens is mostly used as his "diplomacy" skill :-D


this creates all sorts of interesting situations the other players/st can deal with.. my character will need to evolve and change a lot in his attitude in order to be able to fulfill the task set out to him by the unconquered sun. And everybody will probably expect you to negotiate with people when you're an eclipse..


Some non-standard character ideas:


Eclipse-thief


Dawn-sorcerer or archer


Zenith-item crafter/scholar/teacher or sorcerer


Night-negotiator


Twilight-general


Full moon-preacher


also, when playing a water aspect dragon-blooded, you don't really need to be a bureaucrat.. you could also be a craftsman who builds jade battleships, or a sorcerer..

 

[Coyotekin]

I remember one of the night caste described in the caste book night : the Vanisher (he had a name starting with H before the title).
He was a really dirty scumbag, murderer, thief, deciever, and his exaltation not only made him stronger but made him much more efficient in his criminal activities.


Exalted are chosen for a reason, but since their fate (part of it at least) escape the Loom of Fate, they generally have free will and make their own decision... one of my pc started as a murderer and a thief, after 3 years of campaign as a solar, he fell to Walker in the Darkness who offered a greater power, and above all, no moral restrictions over his actions, as each of his bad deeds would strengthen the cause and weaken Creation.


But compared to others pc, he never had done anything great or spectacular... he was just himself, and did and enjoyed what he liked.


So IMHO, exalts have the innate ability to do great things, they are certainly chosen to do so, but what they do with the ability depends only on their will.


I exalted (uh, well, the US did, I was just a messenger) a scavenger lord, a crimimal, a ranger, a bandit lord, a mercenary ship captain, two wandering warriors, a Prince of a city state, a mad ingeneer, and a spirit hunter... two of them became abyssals (the criminal and the spirit hunter... both for their thirst for power), and the others are now at the head of a dominion that can rival Thorns or the Marukani Alliance, and they have almost 5000 newly awakened Dragon Kings as allies... but in the beginning, they were just a bunch of violent conquerors able to kill/poison/kidnap a ruler (or one of his loved ones) of a targeted city just to ensure their domination over it.


Most of the time, the Motivation of the exalt changes after his exaltation, and sometimes it takes time for an exalt to find it,  just look at Harmomious Jade... she was destined to be an ennemy of the solars (raised by a demon cult), yet the US chose her.


I think the most interesting characters are anti heroes selfish bastards survivors who exalt and are now somehow forced to realize that they can't just hide and live their own life in peace, and DO something.


So I don't think there's an "exalt profile".

From the sounds of it your characters fit the mold of what is expected of a Solar. They are the ones that get out there and do something with themselves, and even more so after they Exalt. They are not bumps on a log, as even a Solar Scholar is still going to find out what else they can learn and what they can do with it instead of letting the info sit in a library or something.


I think Chaka ultimately has it right.

 

[Chaka]

What types of people with what kinds of motivations are usually called by each Exaltation? I remember Solars are supposed to be people that will do grandiose things that chance creation or some such and Lunars are supposed to be Stewards and have some sort of protective nature. What are the hard and fast rules for who gets what shard? Do you really listen to this or do you just make the character you want with the Exaltation you want?

Solar Exaltations are meant to choose people who truly excel at their own chosen area, and the caste they earn reflects this. Lunar exaltations choose people who choose life and struggle onwards against any odds, and their castes represent how they survive (a full moon might struggle combatatively,  a changing moon use social methods, cunning and stealth and a no moon would outsmart and outwit their opponents, though this is obviously not always true.) Also, Lunars are always people with a strong desire to protect something, be it a town, a person or group, or even an ideal. Dragon-Blooded Exaltations aren't determined by their personality so much as their personality is shaped by their exaltation, as they're in the blood. Sidereals are often people who were inquisitive about the world around them, how things actually work, as well as being drawn to certain aspects of life, such as a future chosen of journeys being someone with a wanderlust, a hedonist destined to be a chosen of serenity, and so on. Abyssals are the dark reflection of the Solars, and are often people who could have been solars but never get the chance, and are often either gullible, greedy or simply evil in their mortal lives, as you must choose to become an Abyssal.


Of course, these are vastly generic descriptions, which means two people of any given exalt type and caste are vastly different people (for example, a witty socialite who thrives on court intrigue and a stone cold assassin who relies on stealth and subterfuge are both equally likely to become Changing Moon Lunars). Also, there's no black-and-white morality that says you Exalt. A despotic priest-king who kills thousands could be a Zenith solar, while an innocent young man desiring the strength to save his city from destruction could accept an Abyssal exaltation in an act of desperation, only to seek redemption later.

 

[cyl]

From the sounds of it your characters fit the mold of what is expected of a Solar. They are the ones that get out there and do something with themselves, and even more so after they Exalt.

Yup but they did it because I had a excellent zenith pc that lead them through the game.
And my point was to express that the link between motivations, skill, and solar exaltation was unnecessary. Various profiles can exalt, and become various type of characters, heroic or not.


There is no destiny attached to a solar exaltation, only memories of the past, and perhaps a message from the sun, but why one was exalted truly depends on Lytek's choice, and I think his choice is "who has the greatest potential ?" from Lytek's point of view.


What the exalt do after his exaltation and with his potential depends only on his own choices.


That only count for the solars...


Edit: the same goes with abyssal exaltation, it's all about the appreciation of the potential of the candidate for abyssal exaltation... or else there would be no redemptionist


For the lunars I can't agree with Chaka on this, as Luna seems to take a more active role than US in  the exaltation process, and she always choose the same profiles... but she/he only choose a candidate for exaltation and that it is the No Moon that choose and fix the Caste of the exalt, depending on what results they had on the trials... so the caste itself is determined by the appreciation of the No moon, not by luna him/herself.


For sids, I'd say the choice belongs to the Maidens, and they carefully plan their exaltation.


And for DB, it's in their blood

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

It isn't entirely up to the No Moons, though. The Casteless already has 2 Caste Attributes. If both are in one category, they are going to end up of the appropriate caste, period. If they are in two seperate categories, even then, the thrid isn't going to be the case either. However it is this later group that the No Moons have the most say over.

 

[Chaka]

Yes, Luna does actively choose her Exalts. She actively chooses survivors and people who refuse to back down, and also have an innate desire to protect. Which is basically what I said. Where aren't we agreeing?

 

[Coyotekin]

I think out of all of the Incarnae, Luna takes the most active role in choosing her Exalts. And 9 out of 10 times, perhaps always, visits her children in one form or another. And no, that is not official canon.