Bound Devil Chambers Conspiracy
This is not an epic of heroics. It is a history. A history of the wondrous, but with the blemishes, and losses and caprices of real history.
These are not superheroes or classic demigods. They are rulers- specifically, they are Princes of the Earth. Lords, admirals, artists and innovators.
They are the figures who shape ideas, most of all, the idea of Imperium.
They are Bound Devil Chambers Conspiracy
There have always been legends surrounding those few Dynasts allowed entry to the Imperial Manse. The one most whispered, and thus least likely to be true, is the legend of the Bound Devil Chambers Conspiracy. They say there are rooms where councils are perfectly warded from prying ears and the ancient Anathemic lords of the Manse plotted and schemed. The story goes that the Scarlet Empress gathers the most luminous and loyal of her descendants within these chambers and makes of them a council to work her will.
The wise scoff, as what need would the infallible Empress have of another system of control, another wheel within the many wheels of the Dynasty? Anyway, the last name associated with the group died fourteen years ago years ago, and since then, no member of the Host has entered the Manse anyway.
Thus, you are shocked and awed when you receive a message in the hand of the Empress' seneschal requesting you enter the manse alone on the darkest night of Calibration to discuss matters of grave import...
Contents
Bound Devil Chambers Conspiracy[edit]
The Wiki page for the Exalted play-by-post game featuring Dynastic Illuminati-style High-Stakes Politics
Player Characters[edit]
- V'neef Somat: Idealist Renaissance man. Played by Victor Von Villain
- Ledaal Endar: Broken hero, now an operator for the All-Seeing Eye. Played by Shantak.
- Nellens Vieu: Mysterious super-spy also known as the Blind Wind. Played by chrespo, now retired.
- Mnemon Ai: General who's both strategist and provincial administrator. Played by Axelius.
- Peleps Illibe: Ascendant naval admiral and hound-dog deliberator. Played by Harsh Grim Con.
- Cynis Magnos: Truly pious slaver and procurer. Played by Phantom Grunweasel.
- Sesus Sikandi: Elemental hero of epic proportions. Played by Argent.
- Brass Wolf: Fanatical super-soldier obsessed with the Empress. Played by Death's toe.
- Crashing Wave: Disciplined traditionalist Immaculate monk. Played by Kaiu Keiichi.
- Ledaal Cordelia: Romantic traveler, linguist and author. Played by S7Michelle.
- Tepet Enkada: Reputable combat sorcerer. Played by etu.
- Ragara Atyelta Ceres: Notorious buisnessman and treasurehunter. Played by chrespo.
Non-Player Characters[edit]
- Scarlet Empress: Her Imperial Majesty. The Eternal Ruler. The nexus that connects us all.
- Salesben Versen: The Empress' personal seneschal. The last scion of fallen great house.
- Mnemon Daikanis: Reckless sorcerer and master summoner.
- Ragara Monchrief: Recently appointed Satrap of the recently defeated mega-island of Dalgotha.
- Cathak Passada: Seven-foot tall wrestling champion known mainly by his ironical cognomen, Fenrir.
- Cynis Falen Scorpia: The 33rd Legion's only warstrider pilot.
Recruitment Notes[edit]
The game is going to focus on what the Dynasty is.
I want players interested in playing up the complex nature of being a century-old elemental super-soldiers raised under the assumption that they are enlightened bodhisattvas and indoctrinated to engage in petty battles of one-upmanship to be better prepared to face the coming demons and dangers of the Age of Sorrows.
We’re talking about Grant Morison doing Jane Austin and I, Claudius through the eyes of Jack Vance. We’re talking about complex tea ceremonies involving poisons ground from flowers found only in virgin’s dreams, and duels of honour between mecha-pilots over who may ask Lady Mnemon Tenaka to dance at the Calibration Festival, and kung-fu feuds between dojo’s that support different forms of sculpting. We’re talking about the ancient blood-cult’s ziggurat you purified as a childhood folly being used by your great-grandson raise unicorns and sabre-tooth tigers for competitive shows, or a God-Emperor with fiery eyes and super-strength bending on knee for Imperial sanction because he is your exotic foreigner client.
But I’m rambling, so lets get to the meat of it.
The PC’s will be a secret group reporting directly to the Scarlet Empress, subtly enacting her will. The game is set 2 years before the Fall of Thorns, at the apogee of Imperial power. As such characters will:
- Be very powerful. Character Creation will be: Starting Charms (15, with at least 7 from your Aspect and 3 from your favoured Abilities), Starting Virtues (7), Starting Permanent Essence (3), Bonus Points (45). The Scarlet Empress is seeking those with power and influence, but not too much power and influence. In other words, heroes, legends and leaders, but not possible challengers to her undisputed mastery of all.
- Be at least century old, and under two centuries old. This is non-negotiable, as my vision of the Realm doesn’t allow upstarts to reach the highest peaks of power.
- Must have a bunch of interesting, glorious accomplishments worthy of being a luminary of the Host for decades upon decades. Given I’ll be playing with the fact the entire Host could barely fill a middle-sized Australian mining town, and thus everyone knows everyone, and at the same time everyone is Doc Savage-level cool, I need stuff to work with. Not a long backstory if that’s not your thing, but a clear set of principles to work with when building up the society around you. So be sure to make your guy cool and unique, not “just a typical realm sorcerer with a few demons” or “a fire-aspected melee guy” or whatnot. Not that those ideas are bad, they’re just not enough.
- Be very loyal. Some of you will be ambitious, some will be pragmatists, some will be elemental saints and some will be mindless super-soldiers. All, however, will be the kind of people who will support the Empress above any other interest, at least for now.
- Chosen from all corners of the Realm. Strong shtick protection is built into the conceit. This Illuminati-like Council was meant to be a microcosm of the way the Realm interacts internally, and to add another layer of hidden complexity to her system of control. As such, no 2 PC’s should overlap too much. Claim your shtick along the lines of House/Institution/Personal Skills, and we’ll keep everyone else away. Example: Having two soldier-types would okay, if one was a beloved leader of legions from the Army, one a sullen strategist from the Navy. Two monks would be okay, if one was an Earth-Aspected enlightened martial artist and the other a Wood-Aspected politically-minded calligrapher.
As for play expectations:
- Mechanically, Exalted 2nd Edition. House-rules to be discussed later- but they'll be for smoothing out Social Combat and Mass Combat mainly. Setting-wise, bits of firsta nd second edititon, plus much more detail we'll all create as we go.
- I planned to start this game in the next week, but due to minor back surgery, this game won’t start until around November, 14th. Hopefully, this’ll give you guys more time to finesse your ideas and work out backstories.
- Once we get started, I’d like to see decent post rates, but nothing flash needed. Once every two or three days will be fine, though more is of course better.
- That said, don’t post a speed bump- no single paragraphs or lines. Each post should have a bit of meat to it, to let the next guy or myself work with it.
- In keeping with the above principle, please be comfortable with puppeteering. To get graceful dialogue and faster-moving fight scenes, every player will probably use the other characters to some degree or another. The balancing rule, of course, is to be respectful and sensible- we’re not in competition here.
- I have no idea how popular this’ll be, but I won’t be doing first come, first served. I’ll be looking for the best ideas, the most compatible shticks and the basic writing capacity.
