Modern Exalted PBeM: Lost Souls

[gmimperfecti]

All your life, you have never really wanted for anything. Looking back, you realize that you never really had a choice to make. Your childhood was fine. When you grew bored, something exciting happened. When you got lonely, a new friend found you. When you really wanted to get something, you eventually got it. When you lost something, before you could give up you found it. Your childhood progressed more-or-less happily onto adolescence and then into the first breath of adulthood.


Then the world went to hell. Terrorists started attacking and the economy tanked. Your life seemed invincible and then one day you lost something and it was never going to come back. Something blindingly traumatic happened suddenly, without warning. In that moment of despair and crushing sorrow, you realized that you had never actually made a decision in your life. There had never been a significant choice to make...until now. Something within you is surging forward, pressing against the normalcy of your life. You feel it and realize it is you. You don't know what you are pushing against, what resists you so strongly...but something has to answer for what has just happened. You have to fix it somehow.


Today is the 30th of December, 2008. The world is being consumed by entropy. Weather anomalies are on the rise; earthquakes, hurricanes, and blizzards slaughter and destroy. The world economy might fail any day; once mighty countries look upon their treasuries to realize there is nothing left. Terrorists strike the fat, exposed underbelly of modern nations; shattering the dream of peace and prosperity. Hundreds of outbreaks of the bird flu have been reported worldwide this year all across Asia; the world looks at its neighbors and wonder if they will bring about their deaths.


And you have no idea what you are. In distant ages their might have been guidance, a flicker of insight or memory. Now there is no help. Still, you look upon your hands and face and see that they are not as they were. You understand things on a scale you could never have conceived of before. Memories, books, tv-shows, half-heard conversations, and more have woven together. Always there behind you and within in a warmth; a fire that will not let itself be put out.


***


I need 2-3 players. Exalted PBeM situated in modern earth. Frequency is fairly chill, around 3-5 per week (it could spike, but no pressure). I am looking for players that are interested in character development, role playing, and writing. Character Gen is largely handled by the personality/history you submit with me coupled with your decisions during the prologue. It has worked out great for the first player. I have another player getting ready to start the prologue. I am looking for all 4-5 players to link up in a month or so, and then the first Chapter will begin. It is based in New York, New York, USA. I am using a custom, google map to track locations and gdocs for character sheets.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

sounds interesting. anything else you can give as info? what concepts are already underway?

 

[Aceswild]

Very interesting. What sort of rules changes, if any, have accompanied this change to modern setting? Secondly, what sort of exalts are being played? By the intro you've presented, Solar would be a safe choice but I can see others working as well.

 

[Midboss]

I'm definitly tempted by this. Is there any rules concerning background ? (such as age, profession, nationality...)

 

[gmimperfecti]

Re: Additional Information. The goal is that your characters start out normal, mundane existence. You could be rich or poor, but the point is that you were content and satisfied and successful (enough) at whatever you wanted to do. The active concept is a doctor pushed by his father until his rich father gets caught up in Securities Fraud and their family lose all their money and the mom eventually commits suicide. Losing the money sucked, but it was permanently losing someone dear to him that caused him to "snap". Since everyone here is super familiar with exalted...there is no "solar exaltation" per se (a mystery eventually to explore). Rather there is a gradual awakening of your innate perfection. Non-exalted mortals use the Modern White Wolf rules and so the way I have been trying to convey the difference between THEN and NOW is a sweeping, almost omnipotence compared to what you knew and could do before. Think about dots in Lore verse Academics. So its an interesting point for character exploration. While I would like a canonical full-circle, in the end the character is more important. I usually over-empathize the notion of a circle as a supernatural bond and it can serve as a plot device in addition as a handy why to justify sticking together. But, it isn't strictly necessary just preferred.


Re: Rules Changes. I looked at the Modern WW Setting and decided that those systems existing side-by-side (more or less) fit with the meta-plot I had conceived of. So, I decided to keep both. What this has translated in is a "transcendence" feel, when things shift over to Exalted rules; especially when followers and such cross over. I really like. I resolve all the dice rolls to keep things chugging along, so if I need to make any modifications on the spot, it is pretty easy to do. In the OOC, I will notify you of the results and such. During the Prologue I even went so far as choose for the players when their charms activate (which ends up making them even more efficient), but that was because the original 2 players didn't know much exalted and the 3rd player didn't want to be bothered. I can give you access to your Qualitative or Quantitative (traditional) character sheet. If you want a little more control over things, we can negotiate.


Re: Exalted Types. All the Exalted types exist in the modern setting. However, what they are all doing and the factions and everything is certainly not what is presented in the Exalted Core book. Indeed, you don't even know what Age it is. Everyone falls through the cracks, though, but life is quite a bit different for the other Exalted types. I am willing to explore that, but you have been warned. It might be a bumpy ride.


Re: Background rules. You can be any age, profession, nationality, etc. Before he dropped out due to RL, the dawn player was a military person in Iraq. The theme for Solars at least, is a charmed life. So the military person never actually saw combat, he was shipped (eventually) to based in the desert that had "strategic value" but was far from any actual combat. So, keep that theme in mind.

 

[gmimperfecti]

My twilight was making fun of the opening post and said it kind of sounded like Scion. I want to emphatically emphasize that this is NOT NOT Scion. There is not Zeus or other pantheons running around, nor giants, etc. I have Yozi and Fair Folk, like it should be. The forms and aspects of them might (and should) be different than what it was during the first two Ages. But that's part of the exploration.

 

[Midboss]

I was thinking of a future Night Caste MI5 spy. Works officialy at the English Embassy in NY but spends a lot of time collecting information on foreign diplomats in their embassies or the UN. More of a tech/hide in plain sight guy than Sam Ficher type.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

David Alexander led a charming life. Born in the US to a loving family, he was raised in the jewish faith, and sought to find his own path in this world. When he was still a young boy his parents moved to Israel, wanting to better acquaint him with his jewish roots, and also show him the beauty of the holy land. Fot that end, they would take trips across the country, sleeping outside and hiking the myriad pathways, and outside the beaten roads. The boy grew up to love travelling, and the outdoors.


As David grew, he kept on travelling, and became fascinated by history, songs, and culture. After his mandatory army service, he decided to take the money and take a long trip around the world, to see more of this wonderful planet, and the myriad cultures it has to offer. For 2 years he travelled across south america, india, latin america, and africa. When the money was about to run dry, he hopped on a plane back to Israel, and with his family's help went to university, to study history, but the subject was too dry for his tastes, so he convinced his parents that he should go to the US to study culinary arts, realizing that during his travels the various foods, and the various ways to combine the ingredients into delicious foods was a passion, so they relented, and sent him there to study. Which he did, quite successfully, for 3 years, in the prestigious Culinary Institute of America.

 

[gmimperfecti]

I accepted 3 players. The circle is now complete. However, if you are interested I can put new people on standby