Game : Rebirth

This is a collection of setting, rules and character information for my IRC Exalted game (I being Orion).

Rules

The game uses the PDQ rules. The basic rules aren't long, but a bit too long to post here. I'll teach the players what they need to know but if you'd like a reminder then the core rules can be found here:PDQ

However, the game does use a few different rules from the PDQ standard. Here's the main differences:

• You roll 3d6+MOD instead of 2d6+MOD.
• Two new Ranks exist above Master: Elite [+8] and Epic [+10].
• The Target Numbers have shifted to accomodate the new rolling system. They are Poor [9], Average [11], Good [13], Expert [15], Master [17], Elite [19], Epic [21]
• Splitting your attacks to affect multiple targets (or to attack the same target twice) is possible, but at a -4 penalty rather than -2.
• Armor-like defenses cannot be downshifted to ignore all damage, instead they may be downshifted to ignore MOD x2 in damage ranks.
• Unarmed human attacks (or similarly "weak" attacks like whips) inflict only Failure Ranks.

Important Terms

• Anima BannerAll Exalts are divine beings and your anima is the visible expression of your divinity. At it's lowest levels it appears as a glowing mark on your forehead, at higher levels it becomes a practical bonfire of essence which can be seen for miles.
• Charms: These are specific supernatural powers learned by the Exalted and other supernatural creatures to perform their incredible feats.
• Elementals This is listed here since the elementals of Creation are very different from your standard fantasy masses of fire or air. An Elemental is a naturally material spirit related to one of Creation's five Elements. Elementals can take many, many forms although their elemental aspect is usually recognizable by anyone knowledgable enough. As elementals become stronger they naturally tend to evolve a new shape, eventually transforming into Dragons, called Lesser Elemental Dragons. (much closer relationship to the asian dragons than european)
• Essence Essence is the basic material of reality, the magical structure of all of Creation. Everything is composed of Essence and raw Essence pours through the world in the dragon-lines and nodes of power.
• Permanent Essence: Permanent Essence is a measure of a character's personal power and enlightenment. The higher your Essence the greater the charms you can use and the more power you have to draw on.
• Essence Pool Your Essence Pool is your reserve of personal power, measured in 'motes'. you have a Peripheral Pool (which is essence drawn from Creation) and a much larger Personal Pool (essence drawn from yourself). However, motes drawn from your personal reserves make it difficult for you to hide your divine nature and add to your anima Banner.
• First Age Between the primordial war and the rise of the Dragon-blooded against the Solars. This was the Golden Age of man and magic, learning and prosperity were never higher.
• Fair Folk The Fair Folk are the chaotic spawn of the Wyld. They have many forms, typically taken from the minds of humanity to provide a solid shape when inside Creation, from ugly and hideous hobgoblins (with shapes taken from fears and nightmares) to the beautiful Fair Folk lords and ladies. They all have incredible powers of illusion and live by feeding on the emotions and souls of humans.
• Fate Points These points are a general measure of the player's (not character's) control over the events in the game. Fate Points can be spent for several purposes, but the most common is to activate or resist your Aspects.
• Gods Creation is an animistic world, everything, from individual plants to the concept of love, has a diety associated with it. These gods range in power from the Least Gods who are barely conscious inhabitants of physical objects (every object has a Least God inside it) to the Incarnae, the near-omnipotent pillars of creation. It's worth noting that starting Exalted are stronger than many of the more minor gods and can eventually surpass any god except one of the Incarnae with time.
• The Underworld The Underworld is where spirits who are still bound to their mortal lives end up. Normally when someone dies their ghost re-enters the cycle of reincarnation and is born anew. However, if their spirits are troubled or held to the world by some force they become ghosts. The underworld is essentially a shadowy reflection of Creation, normally completely seperate. however, there are places called Shadowlands where the two worlds intermix. Anyone leaving the shadowland during the day will come out in Creation, but anyone who leaves at Night will be in the Underworld.
• The Wyld This is the chaos that still exists outside of Creation. The closer you get to the border of the world the more chaotic and unstable it becomes, with the rules of reality bending and eventually breaking as the Wyld corrupts the rules of Creation. Beyond Creation is nothing but pure madness. There are also many Wyld zones in creation proper, where the activities of sorcerers or the fair folk have torn holes in the fabric of reality.

The Setting

The world of Exalted is called Creation, it is a flat world, and it is also extremely massive. The structure of Creation is supported by the five Elemental Poles. The further you go towards a pole the more extreme and usually hazardous the effect of the element becomes.

• The North: The North is the elemental pole of air: a frigid, icy land. The North is the most uncivilized of all the directions and is inhabitated mostly be nomadic hunting and raiding tribes, the descendants of ancient First Age civilizations which failed and surrendered to the cold and wind once the power of the Solars was gone. However, there are a few city states of power and influence in the North. The further north you go the stronger and colder the wind becomes, until you finally reach nothing but an endless range of icy glaciers.

• The West: The West is the elemental pole of water: nearly endless ocean dotted with islands. The islands of the west support numerous tribes, kingdoms, pirates and travelers. The West is also the direction where the influence of the Wyld is the strongest and the Fair Folk are most common. No one is quite sure what the far west is like, other than an endless expanse of ocean, those who go so far are inevitably consumed by the Wyld.

• The South: The south is the elemental pole of Fire: dry savannah eventually giving way to parched deserts. Although inhospitable the South has some of the most intact first age cities in Creation and highly active gods who protect the people against the dangers of the desert. The South also has some of the best alchemists and thaumaturges in Creation, it's the source of Firedust and other alchemical wonders.The further south you go the hotter the desert becomes, until the sand is hot enough to ignite the boots of travelers.

• The East: The East is the elemental pole of wood: grasslands giving way to forest which leads to thick jungles side by side with towering ultra-sequias. The East is the largest and most populous direction. It's also the area where the Realm has the least power and there are many independent nations scattered all across the East. It's a popular starting point for new Solars. The further East you go the thicker and denser the vegetation and life becomes until you can hardly move through the trees and vines.

• The Center: The center of Creation is the Blessed Isle, surrounded by the Inland Sea. The center of the Blessed Isle is the elemental pole of Earth, the Imperial Mountain. The Elemental Pole of Earth is the center of stability and strength, so it is not inherently dangerous. The Blessed Isle is also the center of power of the Realm and the Imperial City.

General History

The history of Creation falls into several stages:

• In The Beginning: There was nothing but the deep chaos of the Wyld. From the Wyld came the Primordials, immense beings of vast power. The Primordials desired peace from the chaos in order to better entertain themselves. To this end they made a stable world out of the chaos, called Creation. They made the gods to oversee the running and stability of creation and created humans to provide prayer and worship, reasoning that the best way to create such a species would be to make them weak and surrounded by danger so that they would constantly beg Heaven for aid. The Primordials also created the Heavenly City of Yu-Shan, supported by but seperate from Creation, which is where they resided.
• Pre-War The gods were tasked with running Creation, led by the most powerful dieties: The Incarna. The Incarna were the Celestial gods: Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Sun), Luna (the Moon Maiden), and the Five Maidens: Venus (Maiden of Serenity), Jupiter (Maiden of Secrets), Saturn (Maiden of Endings), Mars (Maiden of Battles), Mercury (Maiden of Journeys). These dieties had power close to one of the Primordials but they were bound by oaths to their creators never to harm the Primordials. Eventually they decided that they no longer wished to serve the Primordials as servants and hatched a plan to overthrow the Primordials. This was done with the help of the Primordial Gaia and her children, the five elemental Dragons. Since the gods could not fight the Primordials themselves they decided to use some of their power to strengthen mortal servants to fight the Primordials, creating the Exalted. Humans were never forced to swear pacts of nonagression against the Primordials, it was never deemed necessary.
• War Against the Primordials The Exalted were created as living weapons to serve the gods against the Primordials. The Primordials were caught completely and utterly by suprise by the assault but they still managed to put up a fight. The war lasted for centuries, destroying continents and nearly wrecking Creation. At the end of the war the Exalted were victorious actually managing to kill several Primordials, something previously considered impossible. The surviving Primordials and their children were forced to swear binding oaths on their own names and natures, twisting them horribly and imprisoning them inside their own bodies, creating the demonic realm of Malfeas.
• First Age of Man With the Primordials dead or defeated and the gods and Exalts victorious the Gods ascended to the Heavenly City and began enjoying the paradise the Primordials had created for themselves. Meanwhile they gave the Exalted the title of Princes of the Earth and the Unconquered Sun granted the Mandate of Heaven to the Solars. To them was given the authority to rule creation, command the dieties who remained in Creation. Under the power and genius of the Solars Creation flurished. The Solars created incredibly advanced magical infrastructure and devices to keep creation safe and to occasionally fight wars against each other. However, the Primordials had a final revenge. When they were struck down they cursed their killers: the Exalted. The Solars were hit the hardest by the curse, it took centuries for it to reach full bloom but it gradually turned the Solars towards excess, hubris and insanity. The Solars eventually became mad god-kings, tormenting those they ruled and abusing their powers in the worst way. The Unconquered Sun turned away from his children in disgust by their excess and the Solars did not even notice.
• The Usurpation While the Solars grew more and more insane and destructive, the other Exalted could not help but worry about the fate of Creation. It was the weakest Dragon-blooded who acted. The Dragon-Blooded rose up against their Solar masters, slaughtering as many as they could then hunting down the rest. Somehow, they interrupted the cylce of reincarnation of the Exalted, imprisoning most of the Solar's Essences. The few who managed to escape imprisonment and be reborn were hunted down by the Dragon-Blooded Wyld Hunt, an elite cadre of Dragon-blooded warriors trained to find and hunt down Solars before they regain their power. While the Solars were killed en masse the majority of the Lunars managed to escape, fleeing to the borders of Creation and escaping the purge.
• The Second Age The Dragon-Blooded took up the rule of creation, although they did not have the Mandate of Heaven, and began to oversee the affairs of humanity. However, they lacked the raw power and insight of the Solars and much of the magical advances of the First Age were lost, replaced by simpler and cruder (but still quite powerful) artifacts. The Dragon-Blooded Shogunate ruled creation for almost 750 years, hunting down newly respawned Solars and keeping order among humanity. However, two great disasters nearly wrecked Creation: The Great Contagation and the invasion of the Fair Folk. The first was an incredibly deadly and contagious plague which decimated human and Exalted populations, killing almost 80% of Creation's population and depopulating whole cities. This was followed quickly by the invasion of the Fair Folk, the intelligent spawn of the chaotic Wyld. The Fair Folk armies marched into creation, unmaking it as they came and destroying whole swathes of the world.
• The Scarlet Empire Only one thing saved the Dragon-Blooded and Humanity. A young Dragon-Blooded officer braved the defenses of an ancient Solar Manse which held the controls to the Sword of Creation, the ancient Solar Defense Grid. After seizing control of the Manse the woman was able to activate the dormant Defense Grid and completely annihillate the invading millions of Fair Folk in a single stroke: rains of fire, lightning and molten iron wiped them from the face of Creation. With her hands on the greatest weapon system in existance the Dragon-Blooded woman declares herself the new Empress of the Dragon-Blooded and there was no one who could deny her. This is the birth of the Realm, the Scarlet Empire. For a further 800 years the Empress ruled the Realm and bred the Scarlet Dynasty, vast families of her personal descendants, and played them off against one another and against those nations not loyal to the Realm.
• NowA lot of stuff has happened recently. First, the Empress disapeared. She did not, as far as anyone knows, die she simply disappeared and has not been seen or heard from in five years. Over that time the Scarlet Empire has begun to fall in on itself, preparing slowly for the inevitable civil war which will decide who will become the new head of the Realm. However, two years later the Solars began returning, dozens reincarnating every year. The Wyld Hunt was already badly un-supported due to the problems in the Realm itself, now they had to deal with more Solars returning than ever before. They still manage to slay a few Solars here and there but they have no hope of getting them all.

Nature of Exalted

Short notes on being Exalted. First and foremost you are still human, one head, two arms, two legs, etc. (unless you've hung out a lot in the Wyld). The Exaltation is a primarily spiritual change, granting new levels of power and inner strength and most importantly allowing you to feel Essence and manipulate it to produce powerful supernatural effects (called Charms).

Requirements of Exaltation

• The Exaltation wants quality: Only mortals with larger than life desires and motivations are worthy to recieve Exaltations. The Exaltations also were designed for soldiers: it seeks out mortals typically between the ages of 14 and 55 and overlooks those who are badly crippled, maimed or otherwise unfit (although badass issues like Blindness might be overlooked).
• The Exaltation wants people who will USE the power it grants. Mortals who Exalt are those who likely already had a grand destiny prepared for them. The Exaltation demands heros.

Benefits of Exaltation

• Lifespan: The Exalted live much, much longer than mortals. Terrestrial Exalts live nearly 400 or 500 years. Celestial Exalted can live up to 3,000 years. They do not age a day until they reach nearly the end of their lifespan.
• Tremendous Vitality: The Exalted are incredibly resiliant. All Exalted heal faster than normal mortals, are practically immune to disease, and incredibly resistant to poison.
• Magically Resistant: The Exalts are much harder to affect with most magical abilities and are completely immune to some things which could instantly overcome a mortal.
• Awakened Essence: Exalts have the ability to percieve and use essence both from their own internal reserves and from the peripheral essence around them. They may also increase their Essence score far above the normal mortal level.

Character Creation

Please note that this character generation is meant for Solars, not any other type of Exalted.

Step 1

Pick out things like your character's gender, name (see naming conventions), description, homeland, etc. In addition you must also each pick a Motivation. Your Motivation is essentially a 'extra-strong' Aspect (see below) which may be invoked, or tagged, up to two times. Your Motivation should be suitable for a hero of your newfound power and destiny. If your motivation includes words like "settle down" then it's not heroic.

Step 2

Select Caste and Favored Qualities. You should select your Caste (for Solars this is Dawn, Zenith, Twilight, Night and Eclipse) and note your anima power and your Favored Qualities. You may also pick up to two non-favored starting Qualities and treat them as Favored for your character. Favored Qualities are usually marked with italics.

You recieve a Good [+2] (Caste) Quality (such as Good [+2] Zenith or Good [+2] Dawn) which may be improved with experience like a normal quality.

Step 3

Select Qualities. You have 20 points worth of Qualities to purchase. At least 8 points must be invested among Favored Qualities. Qualities may not exceed Master [+6] Rank without spending experience and only with GM permission. See the section on Special Qualities for more info.

Step 4

Select Charms. You start with 10 charms which you can choose. The charms are 'attached' to a given Quality and should be based off of that Quality. The limits of charms are outlined in the next section. All charms must be based off internal Qualities (skills, natural abilities, training, talents, etc), not external ones (followers, resources, equipment, land, status, etc.). A Solar can have charms attached to his "Born to Rule" Quality but not to his "King of Shambalalalala" Quality.

Step 5

Select Aspects. You start with up to 10 Aspects (you do not need to use all 10). Aspects cover a wide range of elements and should collectively paint a picture of who the character is, what he’s connected to, and what’s important to him (in contrast to the “what can he do” of Qualities). Aspects can be relationships, beliefs, catchphrases, descriptors, items or pretty much anything else that paints a picture of the character. It's important to note that Aspects can be primarily helpful, primarily negative, both or neither. They are all useful even if they hinder the character.

Step 6

Finishing Up. All characters begin with a starting Permanent Essence of 2. Calculate your Essence Pool. Your Peripheral Essence is (Essence x5) + Caste MOD + MOD of 'willpower' Qualities) while your personal essence is twice as much. You have Fate Points equal to your Aspects + Essence. You may start with any equipment relevant to your Qualities or Aspects and may request additional equipment at the DM's whim.

Step 7

Bonus XP. Everyone starts with 15 points of Experience which may be saved or spent to improve the character. This XP can be spent at any point during character creation and you may go back and change things if you like.

Special Qualities

There are several categories of Qualities which will function a little differently from your 'basic' type of Qualities. They're listed below.

Artifacts

Artifacts are creations of magical power and potency. They can be weapons, armor, tools, automaton servants and a whole lot more. Many artifacts are still made today by the gods, Lunars, dragon-blooded and occasionally mortals but the most powerful artifacts were created by the Solars of the First Age. If you have an Artifact Quality it means you've somehow stumbled across or even created your own legendary tool. Most artifacts are crafted from one of the Five Magical Materials: Jade is the most common of the magical materials and comes in 5 colors: red (fire), blue (air), black (water), white (earth), and green (wood). Most artifacts, especially modern ones, are crafted from Jade. Orichalcum appears to be the purest gold but it is stronger than the finest mortal steel. Moonsilver is resilient but also incredibly flexible and almost fluid metal. Starmetal is a rainbow-hued metal forged from the bodies of executed gods and favored by Fate. Soulsteel is the metal of the underworld, forged from the souls of the dead and filled with their hatred and agony. Each material is associated with one of the Exalts and they can use artifacts of those materials more easily than others. ALL artifacts are incredibly rare and valuable tools and weapons that make mortal crafts look like tools. A single orichalchum sword could buy a small kingdom. There are no 'artifact shops' and each artifact is likely the result of years of work and most have a long, long history. The benefits and costs of Artifacts are as follows:

• Artifacts let you ignore normal human limits. An artifact cloak might grant you the power of flight or it might wrap around you and shield you from Sorcery. An Artifact weapon inflicts far more terrible wounds than a mortal's ever could and artifact armor lets you shrug off equally mighty blows.
• Artifacts must be attuned to be used. Attuning an artifact involves at least several hours of meditation, experimentation, or handling of the artifact. If you have not attuned an artifact it provides no benefit. In fact, many artifacts are impossible to use when unnattuned, only by infusing a sword with essence could an Exalt hope to lift the 5 foot long, solid gold blade, let alone fight with it.
• Attunement costs Essence. By attuning an artifact an Exalt fills it with some of his personal essence, reducing his personal essence pool by the appropraite amount while the attunement lasts. Most artifacts demand MOD x2 motes, but exceptionally strong artifacts might demand more.
• Artifacts all have their own quirks and histories. To represent this an artifact is given Aspects equal to it's MOD. These aspects may be used for or against the artifact's owner like normal but they do not count towards his maximum Fate Points. Aspects may cover the artifact's construction, it's shape, it's history, or anything else.

Manses

A Manse is a specially built structure using mystic archetechture to 'cap' the natural nodes of pure essence littered across the world. The manse channels and contains the natural power of such sites for the benefits of their owners. Manses must be attuned (but this costs no essence. A manse might be a huge tower, a stone fortress, an underground chamber, or a series of stone-hinge like monoliths. Whatever the form they all provide the following benefits:

• When you are in an attuned Manse you regain MOD x5 motes every hour. This feature can be used by multiple Exalts.
• A Manse always creates a huge gemstone, called a Hearthstone, which may be used to access some of the Manse's powers even when away. The Hearthstone must be set in an object made from the five magical materials or held next to the owner's skin to provide a benefit. It allows you to regain MOD x3 motes every hour.
• A Manse typically has plenty of unusual features or abilities. These are represented by Aspects. The Manse has MOD x2 Aspects, while the Hearthstone has MOD Aspects.

Followers, Allies, etc

It is possible to 'purchase' minions or servants as Qualities. When you do so you should pick a category: 'followers', 'sidekicks', or 'allies/mentors'. Followers are large groups of individually weak mortals, perhaps a loyal army, mercenaries, or a cult who worships you. The quality mostly covers the sheer size of the group and any additional features they migth have. Sidekicks are allies who are always at your side. they might be a familiar, a favored steed, or a young servant. Sidekicks are often strong and helpful but will generally be less powerful than you are and are never stronger than a young Dragon-Blooded. Mentors or Allies are characters who are peers to your character, fellow solars or Lunars, powerful gods, or lesser elemental dragons (or mortals or dragon-blooded with a great deal of influence). Allies will help you but they are not followers and are not content to merely stick by your side and follow in your footsteps. Allies should be taken as Aspects, the more powerful they are the less likely they should be to have the time or ability to interfere directly in your affairs.

Aspects and Fate Points

Fate Points are spent and regained in several ways, here's what you need to know about fate points:

• You may spend 1 Fate Point to make a declaration about the scene or situation (this inn has a basement, there's a night watch station within earshot). You don't need to spend a fate point if this would be blatantly obvious (there's a fire burning in the inn during winter, there's a sword somewhere in the armory, the kitchen has some sharp objects and food). If the declaration conflicts with previous declarations or the GM's description of the scene then the previous description wins. Also, if your declaration is simply too ridiculous or would not work for reasons you don't necessarily know (perhaps the GM hasn't revealed it yet, but all the guards are in the pocket of the local gangs so there's no guard patrol to help you out) then it fails.
• You may spend 1 Fate Point for an upshift to a single roll. This cannot be used more than once on a single roll.
• You have a 'refresh rate' for Fate Points equal to the number of Aspects you have. Every time there's a significant amount of downtime you can regain fate points up to that number (if you have more fate points than your refresh rate, then you don't regain any).
• Whenever you make a 2 upshift stunt you may regain 2 Fate Points instead of 4 motes.
• Aspects can cost or grant fate points, see below.

The primary purpose of Fate Points is to manage your Aspects in play. Using your aspects in a positive way grants a bonus, but it also costs Fate Points. Having your Aspects used against you will grant Fate Points however. There are three way Aspects may be used:

• Invoking You may Invoke your Aspects, or the aspects of an object under your control. You invoke an aspect by spending 1 Fate Point in a situation where the Aspect would be advantageous (for instance you might invoke the aspect 'built like a brick wall' to resist being knocked down, resist damage, or smacking someone else around. But definitely not performing ballet) and you recieve +1d6 bonus to the roll involved.
• Tagging The scenery and other characters can have aspects too. When you want to use these Aspects to your advantage it's called a tag. Tagging an opponent's aspects is just like Invoking one of yours, you spend a fate point, explain how it'll help you, and you gain +1d6 to your roll. Of course, you don't necessarily know your opponent's Aspects, in these cases you might guess. If you guess correctly (or at least 'close enough') then the tag works like normal. If your guess is wrong then you get the Fate Point back, unless the fact that you know you guessed wrong reveals something important, in which case you spend the fate point anyway. For instance, if you attempted to tag a hypothetical aspect "Dumb as a Post" on the bumbling, imbecile captian you've been talking to and the GM reveals that the captian doesn't have that aspect (or a similar one). You wouldn't get the Fate Point back, but now you know the captain isn't nearly as dumb as he seems.
• Compelling Compelling is when the GM decides to use one of your Aspects against you (if an NPC does this, it's tagging). Typically Compelling doesn't involve a bonus or penalty, instead the GM declares that you may not or must do something (although generally the 'how') is up to you. If your Aspect is compelled the GM offers you a fate point and requests that your character follow the aspect. If you don't want to follow it, you must give the GM a fate point in order to ignore it. If the GM really feels that this is important he may offer you two fate points (which will require that you give up two fate points in order to ignore), or even 3. For Example: If your character had the Aspect "Short Tempered" and someone important insulted you during a party where it was important that you be on your best behavior the GM would offer you a fate point, requesting that you respond to the insult in some way (how is up to you, a snippy comeback, a challenge to a duel, or a punch in the face). If you really, really didn't want to get into trouble you would buy off the GM with a fate point, and if he really really wanted to start something he could up the ante (but he may also make more extreme requests).