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Three Thousand Club
Amongst the peoples who eke out a living in the depths of the burning sands, on the wind-scoured freezing wastes of the north, who cling to tiny islands amongst the great open stretches of ocean in the furthest west, there is a saying shared: 'Man plans, and the Gods laugh'. Amongst the small folk who eke out a living on the Blessed Isle it is, 'Women plan, and the Dragons laugh'. Amongst the harried servants of the Bureau of Destiny, 'Gods plan, and Creation laughs.' So it is you come to find yourself looking down upon a gaping ragged hole in the perfection of the loom, a pattern spider tasked full time with preventing the damage from rippling outwards into the rest of the Direction, long since having given up any effort of weaving any sort of coherent pattern into strands of destiny unravelling before your very eyes.
There is a remote village thought too small and unimportant to be on any map fit to grace the tables of lords and queens. Destiny had a plan for this village: that it remain an unremarkable, accursed, xenophobic backwater until the end of time itself, as uninteresting to outsiders as it was hostile, for this unremarkable village sits atop the tomb of a purged Solar despot and their Lunar mate, both of great and terrible power, at the heart of their long forgotten empire. That plan lies in tatters. A Manse unknown to Heaven has awakened, in the process reshaping the surrounding geomancy with no regard for local spirit courts. Scavenger princes returning from the village, wagons of priceless ancient treasures in tow, bear tales of caches unearthed, heroes with the strength of ten men able to shrug off grievous wounds in a heartbeat, a Sorcerer on retainer, and a competition open to any willing to brave great dangers to win the hands of suddenly very eligible scions of the most prominent of local families.
Situated on a once-neglected border between an impoverished Satrapy and its neighbour, the village has suddenly become a flashpoint; betrothal requests, intrigues, and diplomatic missives flying fast and furious before a backdrop of soldiers arming for war. House Ragara has dispatched occultists who smell power to be unearthed and exploited. House Ledaal has dispatched witch hunters who cannot quite decide if the stench of Anathema influence overpowers that of Ragara heresy. They will have ample opportunity to find out, as already rumours swirl that a Lunar warlord has been roused, their host soon to march to seize the site before the Dragons can get it in their grubby grasping claws. Local powers too dispatch agents, in the hopes of securing wealth and power for their masters and deny it to the Realm.
The Gauntlet teaches triage is a dispassionate thing, cold in its calculus. This is a not a large problem in the grand scheme of Destiny. It cannot be ignored, but this is an Age of Sorrows, and the best and brightest of the Bureau are busy elsewhere. It is perhaps beyond the abilities of a single novice Sidereal, but not beyond a small team with support. Your betters argue about a permanent solution: A war, a plague, a curse, an earthquake, but all agree (in public, anyway) that more information is needed, and the orchestrators of what can only be considered a brazen defiance of Destiny be identified and terminated with extreme prejudice. If at all possible, the town should be returned to a boring backwater no one wants anything to do with. Above all else, the denizens of Creation must be prevented from awakening the furious ghost of a mad Celestial by plundering their tomb. You'd have thought that would be obvious to everyone, but if your short tenure in the Bureau of Destiny has taught you anything, it's that saving Creation from itself is half your job, and the work is never ending. The other half is paperwork.
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The Sidereals book is here! Yay! I adore Sidereals. Let's kick the tires and see how fun this awesome charmset is in play. I'm looking to see if there are a few players interested in picking their favourite direction, helping me flesh out the setting as we go, and getting up to some good old fashioned kung fu fate-wizard-ninja hijinks while trying to prevent all the other Exalted from breaking Creation. I will have to put the game on hiatus when I'm travelling (next at the end of February), or if I burn out, but I'll do my best to always set a clear date for when it will resume, and that will usually be in 2-3 weeks at most.
I'm going to bring back one previous experiment that I liked:
Everyone will get 3 Sidereal XP whenever everyone has ticked off at least one Flag, then the count will reset. This is to encourage everyone to help each other hit the character moments they want to see in the game. If I like a Flag enough and it fits a caste theme of one of the players, I will probably make it an Auspicious Prospect.
Regular XP will be handed out for overcoming obstacles on the path to the goals the party establishes.
I'm open to character creation being for Essence 1 or Essence 2 Sidereals, depending on what players unanimously agree.
There is a remote village thought too small and unimportant to be on any map fit to grace the tables of lords and queens. Destiny had a plan for this village: that it remain an unremarkable, accursed, xenophobic backwater until the end of time itself, as uninteresting to outsiders as it was hostile, for this unremarkable village sits atop the tomb of a purged Solar despot and their Lunar mate, both of great and terrible power, at the heart of their long forgotten empire. That plan lies in tatters. A Manse unknown to Heaven has awakened, in the process reshaping the surrounding geomancy with no regard for local spirit courts. Scavenger princes returning from the village, wagons of priceless ancient treasures in tow, bear tales of caches unearthed, heroes with the strength of ten men able to shrug off grievous wounds in a heartbeat, a Sorcerer on retainer, and a competition open to any willing to brave great dangers to win the hands of suddenly very eligible scions of the most prominent of local families.
Situated on a once-neglected border between an impoverished Satrapy and its neighbour, the village has suddenly become a flashpoint; betrothal requests, intrigues, and diplomatic missives flying fast and furious before a backdrop of soldiers arming for war. House Ragara has dispatched occultists who smell power to be unearthed and exploited. House Ledaal has dispatched witch hunters who cannot quite decide if the stench of Anathema influence overpowers that of Ragara heresy. They will have ample opportunity to find out, as already rumours swirl that a Lunar warlord has been roused, their host soon to march to seize the site before the Dragons can get it in their grubby grasping claws. Local powers too dispatch agents, in the hopes of securing wealth and power for their masters and deny it to the Realm.
The Gauntlet teaches triage is a dispassionate thing, cold in its calculus. This is a not a large problem in the grand scheme of Destiny. It cannot be ignored, but this is an Age of Sorrows, and the best and brightest of the Bureau are busy elsewhere. It is perhaps beyond the abilities of a single novice Sidereal, but not beyond a small team with support. Your betters argue about a permanent solution: A war, a plague, a curse, an earthquake, but all agree (in public, anyway) that more information is needed, and the orchestrators of what can only be considered a brazen defiance of Destiny be identified and terminated with extreme prejudice. If at all possible, the town should be returned to a boring backwater no one wants anything to do with. Above all else, the denizens of Creation must be prevented from awakening the furious ghost of a mad Celestial by plundering their tomb. You'd have thought that would be obvious to everyone, but if your short tenure in the Bureau of Destiny has taught you anything, it's that saving Creation from itself is half your job, and the work is never ending. The other half is paperwork.
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The Sidereals book is here! Yay! I adore Sidereals. Let's kick the tires and see how fun this awesome charmset is in play. I'm looking to see if there are a few players interested in picking their favourite direction, helping me flesh out the setting as we go, and getting up to some good old fashioned kung fu fate-wizard-ninja hijinks while trying to prevent all the other Exalted from breaking Creation. I will have to put the game on hiatus when I'm travelling (next at the end of February), or if I burn out, but I'll do my best to always set a clear date for when it will resume, and that will usually be in 2-3 weeks at most.
I'm going to bring back one previous experiment that I liked:
Flags are scenes you want your character to experience and events you want to see come to pass. Think of them as how you define your personal character arc. They can be very specific or very general, but it's always up to you to decide when they're satisfied. They're not guaranteed to happen, but fate will bend over backwards to give you opportunities to fulfill them, and in general I won't bother to set up any scene that doesn't either directly further a narrative goal you've chosen to fulfill, set up one of your Flags, or explore the consequences of your actions. Flags should generally specify situations rather than outcomes - outcomes are less certain than situations, but they'll still get a nudge from fate. Examples of flags:
I want to find out exactly how far my character is willing to go to fulfill their goal of abolishing slavery.
I want an establishing scene that sets up how much of a badass my character is (tavern brawl, bandit raid, extortion attempt, etc).
I want an establishing scene that sets up my character as a trusted and respected mediator of disputes in the community.
I want my character's belief that all Anathema are baby-eating monsters to be challenged.
I want someone to threaten my character's sister so I can drop everything and go berserk on them.
I want my character to be captured by the enemy, learn something important, and escape or be rescued by allies.
I want my character to have a chance to show off their incredible dance skills. It doesn't have to be a dance-off with a Deathlord, but I wouldn't say no.
I want my character to duel their nemesis over a waterfall, and have one of them fall dramatically to their 'death'.
I want my character to have dinner with their magnificent bastard affably evil nemesis and play you know I know you know I know over fine wine.
I want my character to meet their Abyssal Mate Husbando, get off on the wrong foot, cut that sexual tension with a Daiklave, and hate-flirt-fight until dramatically interrupted and they have to retreat.
I want my character to discover an important secret about NPC X.
I want to make a glorious last stand on the walls of the city, hopelessly outnumbered by the enemies of Creation.
etc etc etc
I want to find out exactly how far my character is willing to go to fulfill their goal of abolishing slavery.
I want an establishing scene that sets up how much of a badass my character is (tavern brawl, bandit raid, extortion attempt, etc).
I want an establishing scene that sets up my character as a trusted and respected mediator of disputes in the community.
I want my character's belief that all Anathema are baby-eating monsters to be challenged.
I want someone to threaten my character's sister so I can drop everything and go berserk on them.
I want my character to be captured by the enemy, learn something important, and escape or be rescued by allies.
I want my character to have a chance to show off their incredible dance skills. It doesn't have to be a dance-off with a Deathlord, but I wouldn't say no.
I want my character to duel their nemesis over a waterfall, and have one of them fall dramatically to their 'death'.
I want my character to have dinner with their magnificent bastard affably evil nemesis and play you know I know you know I know over fine wine.
I want my character to meet their Abyssal Mate Husbando, get off on the wrong foot, cut that sexual tension with a Daiklave, and hate-flirt-fight until dramatically interrupted and they have to retreat.
I want my character to discover an important secret about NPC X.
I want to make a glorious last stand on the walls of the city, hopelessly outnumbered by the enemies of Creation.
etc etc etc
Everyone will get 3 Sidereal XP whenever everyone has ticked off at least one Flag, then the count will reset. This is to encourage everyone to help each other hit the character moments they want to see in the game. If I like a Flag enough and it fits a caste theme of one of the players, I will probably make it an Auspicious Prospect.
Regular XP will be handed out for overcoming obstacles on the path to the goals the party establishes.
I'm open to character creation being for Essence 1 or Essence 2 Sidereals, depending on what players unanimously agree.
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. What would you like to learn more about? Are you familiar with, in increasing order of specificity: (Your intro covered 'roleplaying' so we'll skip that) Dice roleplaying games, White Wolf games, Exalted, Sidereals, Exalted 3e, this particular campaign? Stop me wherever I lost you, and we'll go from there. If you answered yes to that last one, you'll fit right in as a Sidereal, and should probably be running it because you know more than I do.
. I hesitate to say 'never', but I strongly suspect we will never engage with the 3e Sail rules, and I'm happy most Sidereal Sail Charms don't either.
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