Interest Check: Scions in Exalted - An Experiment

[Sherwood]

I have been pondering a game where the characters are Scions of the Five Maidens, running about a modern setting in Creation. I have been working on what Epic Attributes, Boons and Purviews each Scion would have access to from his/her divine mother, and I will post those once I can get a read on the level of interest in this idea.


To play would require a working knowledge of both Scion and Exalted, and I would highly recommend the Exalted book Shards of the Exalted Dream, since it will be providing much of the material for the modern setting.


The characters would all be members of the Bureau of Destiny, working as troubleshooters across Creation to stop disruptions in the Loom of Fate. You would be starting off in the Imperial City on the Blessed Isle, and as members of the Bureau, you would have access to official supplies/gear that would not be easily available to the general public.


I give you this warning: This is an experiment to blend the two systems together. I have run both Scion and Exalted before, but this will be the first time I will have attempted to run a game like this, so there may be some need to tweak a rule as we play if it becomes clear that something must be changed to make game play fair for all.


My initial thoughts on this is that each player would take on a different Maiden as his/her mother, giving me a total of five players, first come, first served.

 

[Grey]

Hrm, I am intrigued but cautious. Would like to call Secrets or Endings, in that order, dependent on who else signs up because the group is really going to matter here.

 

[Sherwood]

I understand your caution. This game could end up being a flop, but I am hoping that whatever trouble that comes up from the mechanics will be overshadowed by the storytelling.


After a few more interest posts I'll put up the details on what Attributes and Purviews are associated with each Goddess.

 

[vinom]

I'm interested. Journeys or Endings.... or perhaps this is the venue to finally roleplay Aranni, Daughter of Little Beam!

 

[Random Word]

This sounds very cool. I've never played Scion before, but I can familiarise myself with the rules easily enough and I'm familiar with Exalted. Do we still serve the Infernals and contend with the return of the Solars and Abyssals? How does that change with Exalts being essentially Incarna-blooded now?

 

[Sherwood]

You are going to be servants of the hidden Sidereals, working to restore the Solars and to overthrow the Yozis and their Infernal servants.


As promised, here are the various stats.


Mercury - Maiden of Journeys


Epic Dex, Epic App, Epic Int, Epic Wits


Psychopomp, Sky, Magic, Frost, Mystery, Prophesy


Resistance, Survival, Thrown, Control, Fortitude, Occult


Venus - Maiden of Serenity


Epic Man, Epic App, Epic Cha, Epic Int


Fertility, Health, Magic, Water, Mystery, Prophesy


Craft, Dodge, Art, Socialize, Academics, Empathy


Mars - Maiden of Battles


Epic Str, Epic Dex, Epic Sta, Epic Int


War, Guardian, Justice, Fire, Mystery, Prophesy


Fortitude, Marksmanship, Athletics, Melee, Presence, Command


Jupiter - Maiden of Secrets


Epic Int, Epic Man, Epic Per, Epic Cha


Illusion, Magic, Water, Guardian, Mystery, Prophesy


Investigation, Larceny, Lore, Occult, Stealth, Integrity


Saturn - Maiden of Endings


Epic Sta, Epic Man, Epic Str, Epic Wits


Darkness, Death, Chaos, Earth, Mystery, Prophesy


Awareness, Politics, Brawl, Integrity, Medicine, Stealth

 

[Random Word]

I'd be interested in a Chosen of Serenity.

 

[Sherwood]

Ok, so far we have:


Chosen of Serenity - Random Word, Vinom


Chosen of Endings - Grey


Chosen of Battles - Shining Lotus Sage


Chosen of Secrets - Grey


Chosen of Journeys - Vinom


That is the current lineup.

 

[vinom]

Do we get any pantheon specific perviews?

 

[Sherwood]

They are the Mystery and Prophesy ones. I just grouped them all together when I listed them.

 

[vinom]

Mystery and Prophesy are Special Perviews, not Pantheon Specific Perviews. I mean things like Arete or Jotunblut, the ones that a Scion doesn't actually get from their patron's list of perviews, but from the patron's Pantheon.


Or wait, are you calling the five maidens on pantheon, and saying that mystery or prophesy is that pantheon's perview?

 

[Sherwood]

The second. I didn't want to try and come up with a PSP off the cuff, and since the Maidens control the Loom of Fate, Mystery and Prophesy seemed close enough to what I envisioned for them.

 

[vinom]

Fair enough... I imagine then Sol Invictus has Arete.

 

[Grey]

I imagine some sort of Essence sight or manipulation might be appropriate for Scions of the Incarnae.

 

[vinom]

I have to wonder on how the craft system gets adapted...

 

[Grey]

Pretend it's not there and try to get on with our lives?

 

[vinom]

But what if I want or need to make something. Do we use the scion boon crafting system or the exalted artifact one?


Heck, which one do we use for starting magical gear?

 

[Grey]

I expect we'll use Scion for the mechanics of crafting, but I do wonder about attuning to Artifacts.

 

[vinom]

Meaning we can't craft artifacts till we're demigods, even though essence-less mortals in setting can?

 

[Sherwood]

To answer some of your questions, you will be able to craft low level artifacts as a mortal can until you reach a high enough level to begin to craft godly goods. You'll be able to attune yourselves to either Starmetal or Orichalcum weapons, and I'll waive the attunement costs for committed Essence (or in your case, Legend).


Don't forget that for your weapons and gear, you'll be able to requisition mundane stuff up to and including blasters mentioned in the Shards book. All you need to worry about purchasing is either the divine artifacts to be able to channel your Purviews or any other MM weapon.


Also, while I did not see this question, I know that someone will ask about hearthstones. Unclaimed ones are very rare, and I'll limit you to picking up at max a level 2 manse. The effect for you will be that it restores one point of Legend per dot per hour.

 

[vinom]

Hmm... I'm definitely thinking that before her visitation, my junior maiden was a magitechnician student who could never sit still.

 

[Sherwood]

That will work.

 

[Random Word]

I may have to rein this in as it may be way beyond the purview of backgrounds at the power level we begin at, or match the modified fluff, but if we're hewing pretty close to Exalted Modern then I'd like to play a Vizier driven to bring maximum happiness and life satisfaction to as many mortals as possible with information technology. Working at Ashuki under his Infernal supervisor and often lover - favoured of SWLiHN and Kimbery - he used his own superlative skill with crafting learning systems and his understanding of the weaves of fate that bring people together to lead a team which developed a sentient matchmaking app that aggressively works to match people who are fated to fulfilling relationships - however brief they may ultimately prove to be. One of its selling points is its capacity to find matches who don't even use the program, and either convince them to start, or to orchestrate events to cause the parties to meet seemingly by chance. His supervisor finds the whole notion adorably sentimental, but tolerates it because of the massive influx of information it gathers, and its ability to subtly manipulate society. Few users wouldn't perform a small but perplexing favour for the system that brought them such pleasure - leaving a back door open at a certain time, sending an elevator to a certain floor, etc - if it will increase their karma score with the app, and they never know when it's a part of arranging a meeting with their own match. Spies the world over know better than to install this app, but it worked disturbingly well for several friends, and they'll never input anything of consequence, and it will just be this once...


Scaling the system up to full capacity required implanting one of his lead engineers, the woman who best understood the algorithms and essence systems being deployed, with an Alchemical Exaltation to directly interface with the system and coordinate the processing of such a massive amount of data. He loves her, and is concerned about what will happen to her should the project be terminated.


One of his favourite places to write (Code or poetry) is the Moon, as both the clarity of the stars and the heartwrenching fate of Autochthon stir the creative soul. He has visited Venus once with his supervisor, as the caustic, high pressure atmosphere of that world makes it a treasured playground for Kimberian Infernals. This was considered a dangerously reckless move on the part of his supervisor by the Althing, but she is often capricious and spiteful in the expression of her love, as is her nature.


Covering up Allthing atrocities has never sat well with him, but visiting his mother's prison has catalyzed him to redouble his efforts to bring about his vision for a better, happier future. With the project up and running he's being transferred, much to his surprise, and he's resolved to make the best of it.

 

[Sherwood]

Wow. I was not expecting such an extensive background so early on. Impressive. I just want to also say that I am going to have no internet access from Wednesday night to Saturday night as I'm taking my family out of town to see relatives that live out in the middle of nowhere in the mountains of Utah. This will help to give everyone time to think on their characters.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

I have a Battles proposal, if you like.