Dice [OOC] - To Stand Against the Crimson Tide

[Sherwood]

Excellent question, as I notice Sherwood and Psychie have included the core rules splat advancement tables in their character sheets. The table at the top of the characters thread replaces all XP costs both during character creation and advancement.

Duly noted. I'll edit my sheet accordingly.

Sherwood, is Sjet going to raid a Sidereal's tomb? I can put a Sidereal's tomb under the Manse, it would be fitting and appropriate, but yes that is a daiklave in her ghost's pocket and no she is not happy to see you.

An old tomb or some hidden wonder would be a good source of finding some artifacts. Having a tomb under/inside the manse that I got my hearthstone from would be good for me.

Sjet received one of the best educations in Creation, on an obscure and often forbidden topic. Who was your teacher? Eonivar's Sidereal might have been able to teach you this well, but you may well know more about the First Age than they do. You are lucky in that the wealth of the Guild and the Timeless Order means hiring the best tutors is possible, and luckier still there is an immense Underworld city connected to yours in which ancient ghosts who were present in the First Age still linger. Ancient ghost tutors don't come cheap, though, and they're the most plausible source for your education. How did you manage to either afford the finest education the Underworld could provide, or impress them enough to take you on as a student without paying? There's quite a story in these Ability ratings.

I had thought that I could gain some memories and knowledge from my Exalted Shard, along with materials and lore located in the manse that I acquired the hearthstone and the other artifacts. If that is not an option, I can adjust the points on her sheet.

Sherwood ! Your previous incarnation built this War Manse. What sort of weapon does it wield? I assume your Hearthstone comes from attuning to it, so it must be Solar aspected. Maybe a giant orichalcum mirror array that focuses the sun's light into a heat ray, Archimedes style.

I like the solar laser/heat ray idea.

 

[Psychie]

Since we are using the variant xp chart, it won't be so hard to raise up my melee as we play along. I'll lower it down a bit and put those points into resisting my Dex.

Random Word other than that, is there any other issues that I need to address? Besides not having my background and Intimacies finished?

 

[Random Word]

I am sure Kejak has tea with Ayasha Ura on a daily basis and they know well what each other are doing (well mostly the Gold faction is all over the place). The Sidareals are too valuable and too few with very little time and resources to execute on such an audit. Also the precedent from such an audit if successful who severely hurt the Five Score Fellowship ability to do ANYTHING with all the convictions and cases that would paralyze them.

Ayesha and Kejak definitely have tea every so often, but so did the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War. It's true they both have a shared goal of seeking the best future for Creation, but the Soviet Union and United States both aimed to bring peace and prosperity to the world. They just disagreed strongly about the means to bring that about. They kept tabs on what each other was doing, but both did plenty of clandestine things the other didn't catch for a long time.

There wasn't really a Gold faction to speak of before the return of the Solars, just an iconoclastic bunch of dissenters with a bad taste in their mouths from the obvious flaws in the Realm. Now that the Solars are back, there's a real philosophical schism, and as much as the Sidereals will all band together against an outside threat, the Gold and Bronze factions are definitely working at cross purposes. One wants to ensure the Solars never amass any significant power, the other wants to carefully control their rise to power. These are diametrically opposed goals, and you just don't tell someone who opposes your goals all about everything you're doing. This conflict will get worse and likely come to a head when enough Solar circles reassemble like the Bull's and make significant gains. The Five-Score Fellowship will almost certainly come to blows, as they did before the Usurpation.

We need to step back from discussing the finer points of Sidereal internecine politicking, though. The goal is to have the players collectively decide on a story they want to tell together, then decide who the main characters of that story should be, then create characters to match. If you've reached the point of creating a character, and you don't think they would want to work with the rest of the cast to tell the story everyone agreed on, something has gone wrong and we need to go back to the drawing board and try again. Rather than worry about, 'Does the Gold and Bronze faction ever operate against each other in this story', we need to ask, 'Who would be a great main character for this story about a ragtag bunch of mismatched Chosen trying to defend their island against a ravenous horde of Raksha, and explore the ancient ruins beneath.' If you're like, "A Sidereal would be a great main character to tell that story," then that's great. If you're like, "A Sidereal would never want to associate with those people," then a Sidereal's just not the play this time.

For this story, the Bronze faction doesn't want the Solars to retake this island. Some radicals of the Gold faction do want Solars to retake the island. Gold faction moderates want to make sure only properly vetted and educated Solars retake the island. Almost none of them wants an Abyssal anywhere near the island. Lunars are... complicated. I think your Sidereal will have to be particularly radical and open-minded to want to be part of this story, or desparate. Things are looking bleak, and the cavalry isn't coming.

An old tomb or some hidden wonder would be a good source of finding some artifacts. Having a tomb under/inside the manse that I got my hearthstone from would be good for me.

Okay, would it be fun for you to raid that Sidereal tomb in play, and possibly fight the angry ghost of the previous owner? Garret can basically just walk into his tomb, but it will still be interesting for him to meet the ghost of one of his previous incarnations. I don't want to make it take too long to find artifacts you paid for, but if we're starting when you repel the assault you won't quite have had time to secure them yet. We can also start later, maybe a few days after the attack, when you've had time to secure them, to skip that part if you prefer. I think right after the Manse forces the enemy fleet to retreat is a pretty dramatic moment to play out, though. After that we could timeskip a bit if you don't want to play out securing the artifacts.

I had thought that I could gain some memories and knowledge from my Exalted Shard, along with materials and lore located in the manse that I acquired the hearthstone and the other artifacts. If that is not an option, I can adjust the points on her sheet.

Since we are using the variant xp chart, it won't be so hard to raise up my melee as we play along. I'll lower it down a bit and put those points into resisting my Dex.

Sorry! I didn't mean to suggest you shouldn't take 5s. I think I come across all wrong when I ask these questions. I think a 5 is an amazing opportunity to introduce a fun NPC, or a cool part of a character's story. The cranky ancient ghost of a First Age sorcerer-librarian who forced you to pore over dusty tomes with covers of human skin in a haunted crypt, and quizzed you on ancient history in freezing thunderstorms on the rocky shores of the Shadowed Sea, or learn exorcism rites by introducing a poltergeist to your chambers and leaving you to figure out how to get rid of it if you ever wanted a quiet night's sleep again, is cool. The ancient spearmaster ghost who regretted dying before ever taking a student to pass her arts on to, but has absurd standards, but through stubbornly persevering against all her neglect and impossible trials you win her respect and pass through her brutal training regimen, who will never say it but you can tell is quietly proud of you when she has no more than tiny criticisms of your form, and who you're a little bit sad to realize will probably pass on to Lethe, satisfied, when she deems your training complete, is cool. These happen to be ghosts because we've got this handy source of ancient ghosts around, but you get the idea. A famous set of rival martial arts schools in your neighbourhood, a prestigious academy, a wandering scholar who you impressed, this all works. Maybe Sjet has been sneaking into the library of the Manse since she was a kid somehow (family relic, handed down through generations by a secret Sun cult?), and the sentient library itself educated her, or the demon imprisoned within the books of the library. Memories of past lives works, too.

I'm not trying to chastise you guys into not taking fives, I'm trying to say, "A five is an opportunity for a cool story - do you want to add one?"

As an aside: Yes, Psychie, the fact that it's no longer absurdly sub-optimal not to take a 5 at character creation is part of what I like about this alternative chargen rule.

Random Word other than that, is there any other issues that I need to address? Besides not having my background and Intimacies finished?

Everything looked great to me mechanically.



Sherwood Psychie Red Shadow Claws I'd also like from each of you what your First Age incarnations were most famous and most infamous for. That will help inform what's in the ruins beneath. If you want to name and describe your First Age incarnations, that's cool too.

 

[Sherwood]

Let me ponder and get back to you on this.

 

[Psychie]

I do kinda want that 5 in melee starting out..... Hmm. What to do? Let me think on this. After all, I am playing Garret as a newly Exalted Lunar and not a long time campaigner.

 

[Sherwood]

Perhaps he spent some time in the military and learned how to fight there?

 

[Psychie]

Could be. I'll think on this and let you know.

 

[Eonivar]

We need to step back from discussing the finer points of Sidereal internecine politicking, though. The goal is to have the players collectively decide on a story they want to tell together, then decide who the main characters of that story should be, then create characters to match. If you've reached the point of creating a character, and you don't think they would want to work with the rest of the cast to tell the story everyone agreed on, something has gone wrong and we need to go back to the drawing board and try again. Rather than worry about, 'Does the Gold and Bronze faction ever operate against each other in this story', we need to ask, 'Who would be a great main character for this story about a ragtag bunch of mismatched Chosen trying to defend their island against a ravenous horde of Raksha, and explore the ancient ruins beneath.' If you're like, "A Sidereal would be a great main character to tell that story," then that's great. If you're like, "A Sidereal would never want to associate with those people," then a Sidereal's just not the play this time.

For this story, the Bronze faction doesn't want the Solars to retake this island. Some radicals of the Gold faction do want Solars to retake the island. Gold faction moderates want to make sure only properly vetted and educated Solars retake the island. Almost none of them wants an Abyssal anywhere near the island. Lunars are... complicated. I think your Sidereal will have to be particularly radical and open-minded to want to be part of this story, or desparate. Things are looking bleak, and the cavalry isn't coming.

I apologize Random Word , I have had a bit of RL stuff going on, I am excited about this game and I did not mean to react the way I did overfocusing on my characters place and the Bureaucracy. I love the idea of this story being about four unique different exalts and I have always wanted to try a Sidereal. Thank you for the advice on the proper perspective my character should have in regards to the others. Dealing with the Bronze faction and the Celestial Bureaucracy as a whole is good drama and one part of my character's story. Yet, I want to make sure it does not undermine the other players stories. I had originally thought of towing the line between Bronze and Gold, but after this information I feel that they will be probably a moderate Gold Faction member.

I am going through the tons of charms at the moment in the draft...lots of very interesting things. The only solid charm i am definitely getting at the moment is an Awareness Charm that enables them to turn into a crow, raven, or other corvid. (i.e. a way to get up to the flying castle). Funny thing is this is the second game I am playing where my character can turn into a corvid, I have been playing a long running Monsterhearts 2 game where my character there can turn into a murder of crows....

I should have some ideas together to start building this weekend.


So my characters connection to the other PCs.

I want to say that my character has been there for some time using their Resplendent Destinies in various roles around the city, probably as an Administrator or Advisor, a ranking Member of the Guild there, and some others depending on what skills I get for them (if they are strong in Medicine maybe a physician, other folks like that). I would like to think that my character had been there for a time to get to know the other characters through one of their many guises.

I think for each of the PCs, something, some event, a relationship happened between my character and theirs that caused them to bond as a circle. Whether that happened all at once or between each of the PCs is up to us.

I will work on a name and personality in the present time to get more detail but these are things that I think we need to think about in terms of my characters connection with the rest of the PCs.

A note, once the other three PCs had exalted, they would be immune to my characters Arcane Fate and recognize him for who he actually is. Before they exalted they would maybe know them through one of their Resplendent Destinies but not actually know who they are.

I will post more as the creative process, family, and work permit. Questions and ideas are ALWAYS welcome.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

I'd also like from each of you what your First Age incarnations were most famous and most infamous for. That will help inform what's in the ruins beneath. If you want to name and describe your First Age incarnations, that's cool too.

Rainbow Cloud was a Zenith from a small northwestern island. He was a famous traveler, that spent centuries traveling Creation without settling. Stories of him say that he gathered up the best bulls from countless places, and in a ritual prayer had Ahlat appear, and thus prevented a war from starting.
In another case, he set up a prayer in the shores of the Dreaming Sea to Venus, asking to learn from her, and he was gone for a decade, having spent it with her, but he never did disclose what they did. He was a Supernal Performance, and his voice could be heard for miles around when he wanted. It is said that his prayers could also quell some of the disquiet of third circle demons.

It was only 2 centuries before the Usurpation that he finally settled here with his Circlemates.

 

[Random Word]

Rainbow Cloud was a Zenith from a small northwestern island. He was a famous traveler, that spent centuries traveling Creation without settling. Stories of him say that he gathered up the best bulls from countless places, and in a ritual prayer had Ahlat appear, and thus prevented a war from starting.
In another case, he set up a prayer in the shores of the Dreaming Sea to Venus, asking to learn from her, and he was gone for a decade, having spent it with her, but he never did disclose what they did. He was a Supernal Performance, and his voice could be heard for miles around when he wanted. It is said that his prayers could also quell some of the disquiet of third circle demons.

It was only 2 centuries before the Usurpation that he finally settled here with his Circlemates.

Great! Except I want what they're famous for and infamous for. Your First Age incarnations weren't heroes by the end, and we need to reflect their dark sides as well.

I will post more as the creative process, family, and work permit. Questions and ideas are ALWAYS welcome.

Oh, given you want to interact with the Bureau I don't think you'll want to take this option, but thinking about it today I remembered Ronin exist. A Ronin wouldn't carry any of the biases of Heaven, but may be very attached to the safety of the Southwest if they were born there, and would still be driven to uphold Fate, if not Destiny. I've never actually seen anyone play a Ronin, though . It's hard to give up on the Celestial Bureaucracy angle.

I do kinda want that 5 in melee starting out..... Hmm. What to do? Let me think on this. After all, I am playing Garret as a newly Exalted Lunar and not a long time campaigner.

If Eonivar chooses a Chosen of Battles, one of their Resplendent Destinies may have been your Sifu for learning the spear. I understand Eonivar is probably taking MA, not Melee, but that's not narratively relevant. Melee is just a Hero Style MA from 2e . That would require they were periodically visiting the island for years, though.

 

[Psychie]

Cool beans.

 

[Crocodile]

Hello all, I'll be working up an Eclipse to chuck into this madness.

 

[Sherwood]

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!

Seriously, welcome!

 

[Crocodile]

Hmmm, reading over the concept, would a wily privateer/free trader be viable? Perhaps he was brought in on reputation to harass and slow down the Bronze Tide fleet and ended up opting to stick around with the interest of seeing where things go. Now aware his shard might be nudging him to the place as well due to past lives. He loves a deal and the chaos of ship combat, perhaps with some inner desire to forge his own fleet to dominate/protect the region.

 

[Sherwood]

In the First Age, the Twilight Exalt known as Morrolan the Black was a powerful sorcerer and savant, spending much of his time in studying and advancing the knowledge base of the Deliberative. He was highly regarded as a paragon of the Age and was highly respected.

That all changed as Morrolan decided to turn his experiments on the people of the city in which he called home. The other Exalted might have turned a blind eye to the excessive projects that Morrolan was performing, if it weren't for the added threat of his use of demons as spell components and test subjects, fusing them together with the hapless citizens of his city.

A trio of Dragon Blooded led by a Solar Exalt were sent out to escort Morrolan to Meru where he was to face the Deliberative and answer for his crimes. When the four failed to check in, a more formidable group of Exalts were dispatched to bring in the mad scholar.

It turned out to be that Morrolan had fused the Solar with a second circle demon, and was starting the plans to upgrade to using third circle demons for his projects.

A terrible battle broke out between the twisted creations, Morrolan and the Circle of Exalts sent to bring him in. Much of the city was destroyed, but in the end, Morrolan was brought down. In the end, most of his "research" was destroyed and all evidence of his ill conceived actions were wiped out in order to maintain the positive reputation of the Deliberative.

How is that for a bit of colorful backstory for my previous exaltation?

 

[Psychie]

Ok, I have some fluff for Garret's past Exaltation.

The Lunar Exalt known as Mor'du was a large bear totem that was as kind to those he protected as he was fierce and deadly to those that would oppose the will of the Deliberative. He was good friends with his Solar Bond, a man named Rogosh. Together they traveled the length of Creation from one side to the other before setting out to explore out in the Wyld.

All during this time, Rogosh would have bouts of intense anger that would be directed at anyone around him, including Mor'du. The bear Lunar would look past these outbursts, knowing that Rogosh was reality a good man and that his anger was just a passing thing.

When they finally returned to Creation, it was on the eve of Calibration and they gathered with their fellow Exalts to celebrate. It was on this night that the Usurpation took place, and in the face of overwhelming numbers, Mor'du couldn't forget the anger and abuse he withstood from his friend, and his resolve broke. For the first time in his life, the Sword of Luna ran, leaving Rogosh to die.

He fled back out into the Wyld with the hunters hot on his heels where he brooded on his failure to stand at the side of his friend. It was many years later that he crawled out of the den he carved for himself, just in time to witness the Great Contagion running rampant across the land bringing death wherever it went. His despair reached new lows and as he once more turned his back on Creation, the Fae invaded.

An endless mass of Wyld-twisted things poured into the land, and something inside Mor'du finally saw what must be done: he stood before the flood of monsters and became the rock upon which the tide would break. But for every beast that he killed, ten more took its place.

It was on that rocky hill that the mighty Mor'du found his redemption for his many failures. Even as he lost his life, his sacrifice saved many that would have fallen to the claws of the Fae breasts.

It took many years, but the spot on which Mor'du fell was located by another Lunar, and this youngster took the broken bones with him to a proper burial site that was built for the fallen hero. In time, this resting site was found again by the host of Mor'du's Exalted Shard, a young man named Garret.

The shade of Mor'du told Garret his story, and listened in return to the youth as he told the ancient ghost of his own tale. Finding Garret worthy, he allowed the young man to take the armor, spear and hearthstones that were entombed with his bones. He welcomed the chance to show Garret how to use the spear, and encouraged the young Lunar to be the very best that he could be.

 

[Psychie]

What would the cost be for having my First Age Lunar ghost as a Mentor? If it isn't too much, I might just have to shuffle some points around to make it happen.

 

[Random Word]

The shade of Mor'du told Garret his story, and listened in return to the youth as he told the ancient ghost of his own tale. Finding Garret worthy, he allowed the young man to take the armor, spear and hearthstones that were entombed with his bones. He welcomed the chance to show Garret how to use the spear, and encouraged the young Lunar to be the very best that he could be.

There are Lunar Charms for creating supernatural proving grounds. It seems fitting if the Lunar who built his tomb created a ceremonial trial around it. An interesting and potentially important question is why he didn't move on to Lethe. What is tethering him to Creation?

You've also opted to be unrelated to the island in the First Age. That's okay, it's optional to be tied in, just know you can choose to have helped with the project if you like.

Like Red Shadow Claws, my only requested change for your story is it only highlights the good things about Mor'du's life. The Lunars were not spared the Great Curse, and for all the good he did protecting Creation, he also had a dark side. It's a little bit less important to establish a picture of the good and bad if he isn't tied to the island, but if more important if you decide to take him as a mentor (he doesn't suffer from the Great Curse after death, but it informs his opinions on the First Age and what he knows).

What would the cost be for having my First Age Lunar ghost as a Mentor? If it isn't too much, I might just have to shuffle some points around to make it happen.

The number of dots you assign to a Mentor is basically a signal to me about how important a role you want them to play in the story. If you put three dots in, you want them to come up a lot. Like Garret regularly goes to the ghost of Mor'du whenever he has a hard problem to solve, and asks the old ghost for advice. When Garret is in a bind, Mor'du pulls strings, calls in favours, or personally intervenes to help not all the time, but reasonably often.

So if you took him at 3 dots, you'd be saying, "I want Mor'du to be a very powerful ghost with a lot of influence in the Underworld." Or maybe, "I want his descendents to be a powerful family who still revere him as a respected ancestor."

If you took him at 1 dot, you'd mostly want to occasionally ask him questions and have a good source for advanced training in subjects he was an expert in in life.

How is that for a bit of colorful backstory for my previous exaltation?

That's great! If anything, I'd like to know a little bit more about what made him a paragon of the age of paragons - we know where he went wrong, but what did he most famously do right?

would a wily privateer/free trader be viable?

Perfect! Now we've gone from, "A Solar, a Lunar, and an Abyssal walk into a bar..." to "A Solar, a Lunar, an Abyssal, a Pirate, and a ninja who doesn't exist walk into a bar..."

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Great! Except I want what they're famous for and infamous for. Your First Age incarnations weren't heroes, and we need to reflect their dark sides as well.

You're right. It was in fact only after settling in the island that dark tales began to spread, or maybeit was just that other such lesser event happened as he traveled, and they didn't leave a lasting impression since they weren't concentrated.
But one who's voice can sway masses for miles around, and make gods and demons bow to him, can also drive the masses to do whatever pleases him, be it to tear limb from limb someone he declared guilty, even if the Dragon-Blooded's Anima was raging at the time. Or usurp the local spirit court, and those in the vicinity, to his every whim and fancy. Even going so far as to delving into the Underworld, using the Shadowland nearby, to travel to the Labyrinth, determined that he can bring some quiet to the Neverborn. And this after being part of the Black Nadir Concordant, and being one of the foremost Necromancers.

 

[Psychie]

There are Lunar Charms for creating supernatural proving grounds. It seems fitting if the Lunar who built his tomb created a ceremonial trial around it. An interesting and potentially important question is why he didn't move on to Lethe. What is tethering him to Creation?

You've also opted to be unrelated to the island in the First Age. That's okay, it's optional to be tied in, just know you can choose to have helped with the project if you like.

Like Red Shadow Claws, my only requested change for your story is it only highlights the good things about Mor'du's life. The Lunars were not spared the Great Curse, and for all the good he did protecting Creation, he also had a dark side. It's a little bit less important to establish a picture of the good and bad if he isn't tied to the island, but if more important if you decide to take him as a mentor (he doesn't suffer from the Great Curse after death, but it informs his opinions on the First Age and what he knows).

Mor'du's biggest failure in life was his absolute refusal to do anything to try and stop his Solar Bond from committing atrocities on helpless people that had the misfortune to cross Rogosh's path. Add to that his cowardice at the one time that Rogosh needed him the most filled him with shame, leading him to his vindication of his past inaction in his final stand on the hilltop trying to stem the unending tide of Rakshasa from overwhelming Creation entirely. If you are looking for more than that, I'll have to do some thinking to try and get into Mor'du's head and see what made him tick.

The number of dots you assign to a Mentor is basically a signal to me about how important a role you want them to play in the story. If you put three dots in, you want them to come up a lot. Like Garret regularly goes to the ghost of Mor'du whenever he has a hard problem to solve, and asks the old ghost for advice. When Garret is in a bind, Mor'du pulls strings, calls in favours, or personally intervenes to help not all the time, but reasonably often.

So if you took him at 3 dots, you'd be saying, "I want Mor'du to be a very powerful ghost with a lot of influence in the Underworld." Or maybe, "I want his descendents to be a powerful family who still revere him as a respected ancestor."

If you took him at 1 dot, you'd mostly want to occasionally ask him questions and have a good source for advanced training in subjects he was an expert in in life.

I have four xp dots unspent, so I'll have Mor'du as a two dot Mentor. Thank you! I am getting so stoked for this game and we haven't even finished up with characters yet.

 

[Psychie]

I was looking at the Wits Charms that allow me to store items in Elsewhere to be recalled at a later time, and the one I need to be able to conceal the huge freaking spear is, of course, at Essence 2, and wee aren't there yet.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

I was looking at the Wits Charms that allow me to store items in Elsewhere to be recalled at a later time, and the one I need to be able to conceal the huge freaking spear is, of course, at Essence 2, and wee aren't there yet.

But with 55 xp under our belt, and needing to reach 80, we're not that far off.

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Hmmm, reading over the concept, would a wily privateer/free trader be viable? Perhaps he was brought in on reputation to harass and slow down the Bronze Tide fleet and ended up opting to stick around with the interest of seeing where things go. Now aware his shard might be nudging him to the place as well due to past lives. He loves a deal and the chaos of ship combat, perhaps with some inner desire to forge his own fleet to dominate/protect the region.

That makes me glad that I changed one of my Favored Abilities from Sail to Ride. I do plan to take a few Sail charms, some of them give nice benefits, but am thinking once my Familiar goes big size, I can use Ride Charms to be mounted archer/necromancer/sorceress

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Random Word I would be happy to wait actually having the Killdeer's Sorrow at the start of the game, and finding/getting it in-game.
Also, the first three Merits (Cult. Resources and Mentor) will only come into play once she meets The Black Heron.

Should I spend merit points to take the Ichuemon Hunter as a Familiar? or will spending the 1xp for the use of the Charm be enough? Am I correct in thinking it is a 1 dot Familiar?

 

[Crocodile]

Hmm, if I'm needing a previous life, I'm thinking Wave Taming Ryumi, the Eclipse Admiral sent in response to the disappearance of the first taskforce to fulfill the commands of the Deliberative. Another reason my pirate captain is so drawn here is the odd feelings of the past in coming here again. Ryumi definitely was a hardened fighter and fleet commander for the Deliberative, put in charge of the Circle dispatched to bring In Morrolan the Black for their actions. Let me know if that tie in works for you Sherwood

Ryumi was also concerned with keeping the Raksha in check and that is something that has bled over to the new Eclipse whose got strong feelings about their raiding and invasions due to losing his sister to a Raksha Lord who took away all that made her a person over a bargain made. So he'd have interest in fighting their forces.