Welcome to beautiful An Teng. RECRUITMENT CLOSED [Wuxialted hack]

[Shining Lotus Sage]

The origin idea I've been having is that about twenty years ago, a group of pilgrims found ruins of what was once one of Autochthon's lesser lab manses. They found wonders and notes on the chi that never was; Crystal, Lightning, Oil, Smoke, Steam, Air.

Good so far. The idea of a fringe society of outcasts discovering lost secrets that unlock power not meant for this world is perfect. The loresheet for that civilization has potential for status as a warband leader, new ways to combine essence use with other skills, or obvious justification for legendary weapons. Also, idiosyncratic vulnerabilities from the exposure to time-worn essence reactors and bizarre reagents, to say nothing of the surgeries themselves.

They delved into the secrets of eras gone by, and I'm the first of their... new men. Born, raised, and surgically augmented to be a warrior for the new society, sent out to test the design against the Dragon Blood.

Just remember that these are basically the luckiest scavenger lords since the Perfect of Paragon. PCs Are Special, so that's totally fine, but you're choosing to have mortals who managed to operate technology advanced enough to seem like magic be a part of the story. The Realm will desperately want to destroy that process if they discover that you can be made. Everyone else in the whole setting will want to control it. This will cause significant complications. Enough that I want to see the challenge of preventing the mutants from finding Vault 13keeping your people safe while still advancing their interests represented in your Drawbacks.


 
And one last note that was accidentally lost while editing the house rules:


Celestial chi imbalances require/cause deviations, same as elemental or corrupt. And since you can get up to 10 points of your own essence flavor, you'll wind up with two max-strength deviations if you develop that far. This replaces the Great Curse.


Solars and Sidereals take two behavioral deviations, every other Exalt type takes one behavioral and one mutation. You can raise whichever you like, each time you gain another point. Cultivating a secondary deviation or beyond follows normal rules, and all other essence flavors are capped at the normal 5. Your enlightenment and exaltation have set a specific course for you.

 

[Random Word]

Oh, I've definitely settled on the Magistrate. She solved a case of tithe embezzlement nearly a decade old, fingering Ragara Keterin. She's identified his new posting is somewhere deep in An-Teng, managing a number of Ragara plantations, but House Ragara and the Satrap have been recalcitrant, and after making her quiet but official inquiries she survived two assassination attempts before managing to escape upriver. It's been a year since she's had any contact with the Magistracy, her operational funds are running low, her Archons are disgruntled, and the deeper she gets into the jungle the more meaningless her authority becomes. She desperately wants to apprehend Keterin and get out of An-Teng, but she doesn't even really know why anymore. He committed a crime she doesn't really care about, against an Empire that's trying to kill her for investigating it, harming an Empress who might be dead. Sheer bloody-minded stubbornness, her debt of gratitude to the Empress for her position and purpose, and the sunk costs fallacy are all that's driving her on at this point, and she's becoming reckless.


She seizes a Ragara slave shipment originating from Keterin's fiefdom by force of arms in the name of the Empress, setting the slaves free and Exalting as a Zenith in the process. The Unconquered Sun himself tells her to restore his Justice to An-Teng, and to seek the Golden Lord to learn his laws. Now the headache that's been building to a climax for nearly a year is infinitely worse. One of her Archons dies trying to kill her and the rest are terrified, but many of them have been her friends and companions for 30 years and are too conflicted for open rebellion, especially in this cesspit in the depths of the Threshold. She's left with responsibility for a group of terrified and naive slaves who may prove more of a liability than an aid in finding Keterin, a riverboat with a mutinous crew commandeered in the name of an absentee Empress, and a quest she doesn't want from a god she doesn't worship. All while watching her back to ensure her closest friends don't kill her for being possessed by a demon, something she's not at all certain she doesn't deserve.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

I AM SO HAPPY

 

[vinom]

Am I correct in assuming there are still air DBs and no Metal DBs?

 

[Random Word]

This will be my IKF, I just need to port these names into the parlance of LotW:


Rising Sun Soul


Basic Techniques (L1):


(1) Body-Mending Meditation (Allows healing Injuries quickly)


Integrity (L2, 3):


(2) Transcendent Hero’s Meditation (More difficult to inflict Passions or negative Chi Conditions which violate Intimacies)


(3) Destiny-Manifesting Method ()


Presence (L2, 2, 3, 4, 5):


(2) Majestic Radiant Presence (Minor paired Passion/Inspiration of Awe on all combatants)


(2) Enemy Castigating Solar Judgement (Inflicts a Breath Penalty on a CoD or someone who violates the laws of the UCS)


(3) Terrifying Apparition of Glory (Bonus to inflaming Passions or Inspirations of Fear, Awe, or Repentance; Sustained)


(4) You Can Be More (Elevates an Inspiration to a new level above Major: Defining; This can remove opponents from the fight)


(5) Sun King Radiance (I don't even know what this does, but it's probably pretty good.)


Resistance (L2, 3, 4):


(2) Iron Skin Concentration (Improves Toughness, allows Toughness to apply to Elemental damage; Sustained)


(3) Adamant Skin Technique (Improves chances of surviving Rippling rolls unscathed)


(4) Immunity to Everything Technique (Dramatically improves resistance to Poisons, Diseases, Doctor's Arts, and Chi Conditions)


I really wanted Should the Sun Not Rise in there somewhere, but I can't think of a way for it to make sense in LotW.


This is ridiculously powerful as a style, but I figured since it was for Solars that was kind of the point.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

Am I correct in assuming there are still air DBs and no Metal DBs?

Nah. Earth takes over the lightning and lore realm, metal becomes the sturdy crafters. Poison effects get moved from Corrupt to Wood.

 

[vinom]

Hmm, I see.


 
Makes me wonder if Metal is still accurate for me and I don't need some Autochthonian chi.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

We can accommodate that by a process of highly refined and delicate fiat-waiving.


Congratulations! You are now an unprecedented and foreign kind of interloping Celestial-ish.


 


[QUOTE="Random Word]This will be my IKF, I just need to port these names into the parlance of LotW:
Rising Sun Soul

[/QUOTE]
I must admit to having no idea what your notation is supposed to mean. If you want to turn the Zenith trees into an IKF, I'd be happy to bang out some conversions with you. I'm still hewing close to the book's standard mechanics, just erring on the side of cool whenever there are unprecedented effects to consider.

 

[Random Word]

Sorry. Each IKF has one Basic, 4 Level 2, 3 Level 3, 2 Level 4, and one Level 5 powers. I just laid them out and gave them Zenith Charm names. I pretended I was adding dots to abilities.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

@vinom - It occurs to me that the Celestial exaltations grant boosted access to diminished forms of Enlightened chi, even Abyssal and Infernal. But that's not what you're aiming at. From six keywords (Foreign, Heretical, Elemental, Usurper, Endure, Vengeance), I get three themes (Annex, Regnant, Faustian), and that becomes one microstory:


"The new tsar's exiled uncle would even raise an army of Cossacks, if that let him retake Kiev."


That's not Enlightened, that's Corrupt. It also corresponds to a darker Autocthon's crusade against the Holy Tyrant's domain, now held by TUS. Not the Engine of Extinction or anything, but more human-scale revenge in microcosm of the disputes among the Primordials. Stealing the power to do so from the champions of yet another Primordial just makes it feel even more like a war over succession. And that is very in-tone. I propose that your unnatural claim to power grant chi that works thus.


It counts double for Alchemical and elemental techniques, and for chi aura dice vs. energy attacks. If you totally fizzle an energy attack IRR with this, attacker takes a Ripple from the backlash. The first mote of Alchemical chi you spend in a round counts as malicious Joss against elementals in the combat, and the third one (actually spent, not calculated with doubling) counts as malicious Joss against Terrestrials. Only one lost die this way, in either case. Finally, all elemental cultivation you would gain is changed to Alchemical cultivation; costs the same as the Celestial flavors.


@Random Word - I think there's enough to clarify that I'm just going to PM you. Brace for it.


@Grey - Tell me more stories about this monk.


@HeinzByTrade - Keep reading the things I sent you. Progress is good. Letting the other players in on what you're doing would also be good, though. Everyone comes from the same setting.

 

[Grey]

Will try when I get to the hotel - have to get on a bus and spend four days at a convention roleplaying with fuckin' nerds, man.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

Fucking nerds, man. I get it.

 

[vinom]

Hmm, I do see what you mean. I assume that this... corrupt nature of my power could perhaps be enlightened away, if I every were to go from kit-bashed weapon-warrior to an actual exaltant Autokuma some how.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

Hmm, I do see what you mean. I assume that this... corrupt nature of my power could perhaps be enlightened away, if I every were to go from kit-bashed weapon-warrior to an actual exaltant Autokuma some how.

Redemption is a better story the harder it is to achieve. How much you and your kitbasher mind the fundamentally unnatural nature of their power is up to you. Deeds are the core of character development, not chi or the associated deviations, even when they encourage some deeds over other.

 

[vinom]

[QUOTE="Shining Lotus Sage]Redemption is a better story the harder it is to achieve. How much you and your kitbasher mind the fundamentally unnatural nature of their power is up to you. Deeds are the core of character development, not chi or the associated deviations, even when they encourage some deeds over other.

[/QUOTE]
Raises the interesting question. Since I'm essentially just a mortal with VERY fancy equipment... am I still a valid target for a Celestial Exaltation... Assuming I jump/fall/destined-to-go/am-pushed through one of the 5 available hoops later in story.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

There's precedent in a Daoist loresheet secret that lets you reset your archetype. I'm saying yes, though it would free your bound elementals who might bear grudges.

 

[vinom]

Oh that would be a fun plot twister.

 

[HeinzByTrade]

I'm actually just working on internalizing at least some of the new mechanics as I just finished partially grasping the exalted ones so it's not so much a reluctance to share as it is trying to hammer some stuff out.


 
Also lack of a proper keyboard.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

Final revision to the Heretical exalted chi stuff, because I am dumb and did the math backward: Replace elemental cultivation giving alchemical cultivation instead, with each mote of alchemical chi granting one mote of opposing-elemental chi you can ignore when figuring destiny costs.


Also, @Grey, whatchu got?

 

[Grey]

Internalizing the rulebook, thus to interpret the house rules, thus to understand what is plausible in backstory/intent/personality.


Will have something soon. Everything is taking shape.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

Oh, sir, you spoke as though it were a thing complete. I can reword bits, if you have any specific haziness to work through.

 

[Grey]

I live in interesting times.


----------------


Thousand Screaming Mask understands that the past self is falsehood. You have not been; you are. You must annihilate this false-self in order to be true, and to proceed. For this reason he is already striving to abandon memories of his mortal life, though his old comrades in a society which does not exist may disagree and still seek him out.


He appreciates the humour in this.


Already quite competent, his time in the Demon City served to help him adjust to his new life. To teach him more insidious skills and strange philosophies. Mask was unsatisfied, and engaged in arguments, which became duels, which lead to the loss of his left eye at the scouring sands of his mistress.


Officially, he is in An Teng to serve her dark will. For his own purposes, it is to compose his own scrolls, hone his skills, and sate his curiosity.


The principle by which he would currently abide, he has written as follows: Power is intrinsic to the exercise of power. When you cease to exert power, it ceases to be. There must always be more worlds to conquer.


Mask was Exalted as he neared his fiftieth year. He is lean and hard like cut timber. One silvery eye gazes wryly from under bushy brows, the other socket empty and hidden behind a blindfold (neither of these things is so mundane, but that is a story for later).

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

+1 Chivalrous Joss


 
Basic LotW Combat, via Kill Bill v1, first fight


(por exemplo y edificación)


BRIDE approaches the door and knocks.


MOM opens, and the flashback plays.


BRIDE wins initiative. On her turn, she makes a single attack, which hits and causes a Ripple.


MOM's turn comes up after a cinematic trading of blows, and she throws BRIDE into the picture frame, causing a Ripple.


BRIDE wins the Initiative roll again. There's more trading of blows, until both have, say, two Ripples.


MOM wins Initiative in round 3 and arms herself with a leg from the table she was just thrown through (an improvised Massive weapon). If she had to break the leg off, the Sage might have asked for a Wave set to do so, but the BRIDE already established the presence of broken bits of table by using it in her last attack description. Whoops. MOM changes to a style with a higher Damage rating that her new weapon works with, and rolls high enough to land another Ripple and force an Immediate Rippling Roll. The IRR of three dice +(MOM's Damage) manages to beat whatever BRIDE rolls on her chi aura dice +(BRIDE's Toughness), causing a Trivial Chi Condition. MOM's player declares that the blow to the knee sprained something. It hurts, but it's not enough to cause penalties yet. BRIDE doesn't even have to limp, if it's not convenient.


On BRIDE's action, throwing MOM overhead is just cosmetic. But the four-die set she lucked out with goes into a choke attack. It goes so far over MOM's attempt to dodge that it actually inflicts two Ripples, also forcing an IRR. This one, with four dice (two old Ripples and two new, remember), still flops. 0 1 5 8 for 18, and MOM's chi aura comes up doubles. It happens. MOM swings a poker, they part, no harm done.


At the next round, MOM wins initiative again. She has a spare set on that roll, and she decides she's heading for the kitchen. She knows she's an edged-weapon specialist, and that's where the knives are. That's a Covering Ground wave. Since the house is such close-quarters already, each room is basically a Zone. BRIDE will chase after her; since she's slower to act this round, she has no chance to Break the Wave. When MOM's turn comes up, her wave is successful, and she can take her action before or after covering ground. She chooses to throw some shelves and break some glass on BRIDE, and causes a fourth Ripple and another IRR. When it results in a Trivial injury, MOM's player declares that all the broken glass stuck in BRIDE's hands should make it hard to use them effectively. She's trying to interrupt BRIDE's ability to fight, here.


On BRIDE's turn, she has to chase after MOM, and here the movie breaks from a sequence I can describe in game mechanics.


There's a couple of blows in the kitchen, including MOM making another attack at BRIDE's hands. See, BRIDE has that trivial wound of her hands cut up from glass, and that's something MOM can exploit. She causes two more ripples and gets another Trivial result from the IRR. This time, instead of causing a third Trivial condition, she inflames the injury to BRIDE's hands to Minor. Now it causes an actual penalty—if BRIDE doesn't describe how she works around the injury, be it by attacking with her feet or holding tools in her teeth, her rolls all take a -5 penalty.


Then the daughter comes home, and neither one is willing to continue to fight. With her body language, BRIDE offers MOM a surrender. She's worse off, right now, with five or six ripples and a minor injury already. The terms are probably exchanged between players when the school bus rolls up and the girl gets out, but they become explicit in the story about five minutes later on: BRIDE won't ever fight in front of the girl, if MOM will let the fighting end now. It's accepted, and they both make one final rippling roll with all the ripples they sustained, no Toughness applies. BRIDE's final rippling roll gives her the consequences she offered as terms, and she'll suffer an action penalty from guilt if she tries to break her promise. MOM gets consequences that BRIDE decides on, and I'll tell you in a second what they were. BRIDE's consequences don't have to make the least bit of sense for her character, since she offered them herself, but she has to pick plausible consequences of the fight for MOM, or the rippling roll will be penalized and cause a less severe result or none at all. But BRIDE knows MOM, knows how prideful she is. She decides that MOM should get overconfident after the fight. She came out on top, it's her house, and she's already cocky, so the Sage actually gives this roll a bonus for being especially likely. It rolls high enough for a major penalty, -10. And that's why MOM tries the gun, later, a weapon she's not terribly good with. Because that way, she avoids the penalty to her attack. Still makes her miss, though, because she sucks with guns.

 

[Grey]

Edited my post, Sage.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

Digging it. @HeinzByTrade's Infernal, who also is named Heinz, is probably Cecylenian, too. Cecelynian? Fuck Yozi names anyhow. The point is, you may know each other. You may have history together. I leave that up to you two to sort out, but all my experience recommends it.