Exalted Tarot

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Icarus1

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If memory serves, there was an interesting version of a tarot deck adapted to the exalted universe on the old EC. I don't suppose anyone has a copy of that?
 
Nope, but that's a great idea :)


I might try my hand at making one.


-S
 
Actually, I think I saw a thread like this on WW's site or perhaps Rpg.net, I shall search for it! *is off*
 
There's a wiki entry that I find underwhelming.


I really don't like the selections for the Trumps, and there's not much substance to it.


Of course, rather than merely complain, I'll try to do better. What I have in mind is a set of detailed descriptions of each card, including relevant symbolism and colors.


Maybe if it turns out decently, one of you brave souls of an artistic bent might try sketching them out?


-S
 
There is also another wiki entry regarding more playing card type decks used for divination.


I think Savant and Sorcerer also makes reference to one or more tarot-like decks.
 
Here's my proposal for the Major Arcana. I'd like some feedback before I go into further detail on these.

  • The Lord of Light (Unconquered Sun)
    The Masked One (Luna)
    The Lady of Serenity (Venus)
    The Lady of Secrets (Jupiter)
    The Lady of Journeys (Mercury)
    The Lady of Battles (Mars)
    The Lady of Endings (Saturn)
    The Matron (Gaia)
    The Maker (Autochthon)
    The Loom of Fate
    The Prisoner (Malfeas)
    The Lords of Shadow (Dual Monarchs)
    The Lord of Madness (Fair Folk)
    The Omphalos (Imperial Mountain)
    The Dragon of Fire
    The Dragon of Water
    The Dragon of Wood
    The Dragon of Air
    The Dragon of Earth
    The Dragon King
    The Great Beast (Behemoth)
    The Champion (Exalt)
    The Sorcerer
    The Wellspring (Manse)
    The God-Child (God-Blooded)


I plan to flesh out each card with a description, meaning, reversed meaning, and First and Second Age variants. The suits of the Minor Arcana will be elemental.


Feedback. Now.


-S
 
Sounds nice.


How about calling "The Loom of Fate" simply "The Loom", and making the more direct ones a little less so (the ladies and the the dragons in particular).


... I'm a bit tired at the moment, but I'll think of alternate suggestions later.
 
Solfi said:
How about calling "The Loom of Fate" simply "The Loom", and making the more direct ones a little less so (the ladies and the the dragons in particular).
Click to expand...
Both good suggestions. Fortunately, names are easily changed. What do you think about the actual line-up of characters?


-S
 
I find it very suitable and a refreshing look compared to the utter crap I saw on the WW forums >.> Good lord, those people are on something. But this is a good start. I can't wait for the fleshing out.


Hmm, I already have a Siddie concept for these things...
 
I'd suggest more locations and less people; I'd pitch the Five Elemental Dragons, the Prisoner, the Lords of Shadow, the Great Beast, and the Lord of Madness for:


(Improvement requested for names)


The Void


Malfeas as a location


The Underworld


The River Province


The Northern Sea/Tundra


The Western Ocean/Archipelagos


The Southern Deserts/Mountains


The Eastern Forests


The Wyld
 
I'd go with something based on something similar to normal decks, just so you could use them in play, and some folks who have some experience could actually do a reading or two and not have to constantly read up on the new interpretations.


The Fool–The Mortal


The Mage–The Twilight


The High Priestess–The Thaumaturge/Sorcereress


The Empress–The Eclipse


The Emperor–The Dawn


The Hierophant–The Zenith


The Lovers–The Lovers–why fuck with a good thing?


The Chariot–Maiden of Journeys


Justice–Lady of Endings


The Hermit–Lady of Secrets


Fortune–Fate


Strength–Maiden of Battles


Hanged Man–The Prisoner, representing the Yozi.


Death–Death–again, why fuck with a good thing?


Temperance–The Lady of Serenity


The Devil–The Neverborn


The Tower–The Mountain


Star–The Heavens–Yu Shan


Moon–Luna


Sun–The Unconquered Sun


Judgement–The Great Wheel


The World–Gaia


That takes care of the normal major Arcana. You can roll on with The Maker, the Fae, the Behemoth, and a few others as lost Arcana over the years, and that they were lost in the WoD in fact as well as in representation in the tarot.


For the Suits I’d roll out with the Five Elements.  


Wands–Fire–Creativity, Energy, Pride, Obstinance


Cups–Water–Imagination, Birth, Excess, Temper


Swords–Air–Courage, Power, Fear, Chaos


Pentacles–Earth–Stability, Strength, Inflexibility, Intolerance


Now we add the Fifth suit, Wood–Flexibility, nurturing, Entanglement, confusion. With no correlating suit, this is the bugbear of the whole kit and kaboodle.  Major Arcana can be added, but a whole new suit...that’s going to be a bitch to balance.  


What will be fun is trying to get the meanings on the new suit, and its cards.  A simple port can be done for the usual trumps, but a new suit means a whole lot of fun in getting there.
 
The Underworld
Click to expand...
... Not if this is going to be a divination tool, presumably associated with Creation and the Loom of Fate (the fate of the Underworld being beyond the sight of even the Sidereals and all).

The Wyld
Click to expand...
simply 'Chaos' or 'Madness', or for the raw potential (and more generalized) 'Change'?

The Mage–The Twilight


The Empress–The Eclipse


The Emperor–The Dawn


The Hierophant–The Zenith
Click to expand...
... a bit Solar-specific.
 
I don't like the idea of just putting new names on the Rider-Waite deck. That's cheap.


I've been thinking up correspondences for the cards on the list I posted above, and I'm already finding plenty of fodder. I don't need to rip anything off directly.


As for making it familiar so people can "do readings"? Fuck that. It's a game prop. There are already a bazillion fruity tarot decks for people who want to play RL fortune teller.


-S
 
I got no idea what tarot is all about to be honest but wouldn't the astrological houses be obvious picks for the things on the cards? The ewer, sword and those things?
 
Yes, however, that's 25 right there. It leaves little room for other cards, unless I want a MASSIVE deck.


I was thnking of solving this in two ways:

  • Incorporating those themes into the cards for the Maidens
  • Incorporating them (somehow) into the Minor Arcana (the 5 suits)
I'll probably go with the first option, as trying to incorporate 25 constellations into a set of 50 elementally aspected cards might be tricky.


-S
 
About the different decks. I imagine there would be a pre usurpation deck which would be kinda solar themed, a post usurpation deck geared towards the realm and perhaps a "timeless" siderial deck as they were always detached from the rest of society.
 
Depends on the tool.  I was thinking along the lines of it being the proto deck, rather than just a quick port.  Exalted being the proto-legends that the familiar are based upon, then the proto-deck, I would think, have some connection as well.  It also makes it familiar to the players.  


Rather than use it for fruity readings, I always think of tarot as more a meditation tool.  It isn't about reading the future, but reading yourself, and your own connections.  


What associations do you make when a card comes up?  What are you thinking about?  What is concerning you so that it comes to mind when you have the slightest chance to indulge in it?  That's the real strength of the tarot, and why so many charletons can make cash off it--because people supply their own reasoning and supply their own connections.  People are wonderful adding machines, and the mind always tries to order things, and given a chance to put something into a box, you can use that tendency to help you realize what you might be running around on, just under the surface.  Tarot is a good tool for that.  A lot of folks tend to get mystical and focus on "The Powerz Beyond" but in the end, tarot is a learning tool about yourself, and your own worries.  


Mind you, I'm thinking about ease of integration and use for play, rather than just a neat looking prop for a few sessions.  I rather liked the Mage tarot deck for its utility--still use it in games from time to time.  I figure, if you're going to spend some time on creating something, then you make something worth using for a while.  


This can be used in game, easy enough.  What connections do players associate with their characters?   Are they going to see patterns in cards, and run down connections.  In game, you can use those sorts of things to retcon you way into all sorts of neat boxes to please your players with how clever they were.  Or use it as a springboard for new plot lines for yourself.  


You could roll away from the Elements as your suits for the Minor.  Go for Solars. Sidereals. Dragon Blooded. Lunars. Solars for Wands. Lunars for Cups. Sidereals for Swords.  Dragon Bloods for Pentacles. No need for an Abyssal, Alchemicals, or others, since they are new on the block.
 
Stillborn said:
Incorporating them (somehow) into the Minor Arcana (the 5 suits)I'll probably go with the first option, as trying to incorporate 25 constellations into a set of 50 elementally aspected cards might be tricky.
Click to expand...
Why not make the signs the "royalty" cards of the suits? With the suits themselves being the "houses"?
 
wordman said:
Why not make the signs the "royalty" cards of the suits? With the suits themselves being the "houses"?
Click to expand...
I thought about that... though having the 5 houses AND the 5 Maidens might be overloading the deck a bit.


Then again, it is a fortunetelling deck, so perhaps that's not so bad. I'd have to replace "The Sorceror" in the Major Arcana, though, as that's also the name of a constellation.


-S
 
The deck I mentioned before from Savant & Sorcerer doesn't exist. This is what I was remembering:

[QUOTE="Savant & Sorcerer]The Abscissic Guide, developed anonymously by a practitioner of the College Silurian, describes the nine major and 34 minor entreaties to which demons are vulnerable. It discusses how to tailor a summoning to call a demon with a specific weakness. The first practical guide to manipulating demons, it set the tone for most of those that followed  a few notes on the demon psyche and a set of illustrated plates rife with occult symbolism. Meditating upon these illustrations would lead a sorcerer to greater understanding of the task before her. The nine major plates and one of the minor plates are in common circulation, duplicated in many libraries of occult lore. Twenty more are rare, and the remaining plates are lost.

[/QUOTE]
 
One of the bits I liked in the "dragon's blessing" deck that I linked to earlier was the idea that there were only five "number" cards in each suit and that each number represented an elemental aspect. Each suit had an elemental aspect as well. So you could do something like the 1's being the "Air" sub-aspect of the suit's aspect, so "Air of Air", "Earth of Air", "Fire of Air", etc. The numbered cards that matched the aspect of the suit (e.g. "Fire of Fire", "Water of Water") would be "special" in some way.
 
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