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| − | <u>Kingdom of Halta</u><br>
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| − | by Matthew McFarland and John Sneed<br>
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| − | "A Kingdom in the Trees for Exalted"<br>
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| − | '''White Wolf Product ID:''' 8826<br>
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| − | '''ISBN:''' 1588466701<br>
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| − | '''Status:''' Available (published December 2003)<br>
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| − | '''Description:''' This regional sourcebook for Exalted covers Halta, a treetop kingdom (think "Ewok Village" or "Greater Faydark" but infinitely cooler, which is not hard) in the northeastern forests of Creation. There's some information on other surrounding peoples, such as the Haltan tributary states and their enemies, the Linowan, but the Haltans are clearly the focus of this book. Their lifestyle, culture, military tactics, relationships with sundry beings of the area, and various cities are described in detail. Other chapters include a history of the area, focusing on the recent wars instigated by the Dawn Solar general Yurgen Kaneko, aka the Bull of the North, and a section with standard descriptions and stats for a host of prominent elementals, gods, ghosts, fair folk, and spirits who live in the area. The book is rounded out by statistics for standard woodland creatures and mortals of various kinds, some artifacts and magical items of note, and your usual adventure hooks -- a Solar tomb, a mysterious Demesne, a group of scary spider beastmen, etc.
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| − | '''Why It's Interesting:''' This book showcases some interesting politics and recent history in one area of Creation where a lot of different supernatural and Exalted forces have shaped local society over centuries, and upset it more recently with conflict. The Haltans probably get along better with the Fair Folk in their area than most other groups in Creation (not including the Mountain Folk) and have an ancient pact with them; there are at least two kingdoms / domains of Fair Folk in the area that are basically friendly towards the Haltans. The Haltan state was shaped as a sort of pro-wilderness social experiment by two ancient Lunars, and is watched over in part by powerful wood elementals and Caltia, the god of evergreen forests. More recently, the Haltans were semi-committed allies of the Bull of the North in his war againt the Linowan and their allies from the Realm. (Although it should be noted that these events may or may not have happened in individual campaigns.) In fact, although Haltans are just a bunch mortals who are really good at running around in the trees and have green hair, a lot of other mortals in Creation think they're evil Wyld-corrupted forest spirit-beings, or something along those lines.
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| − | The end result is probably that Haltans get along with various kinds of supernatural creatures better than they do with their nearest mortal neighbors -- the Linowan, who they've been fighting for generations, the raiding hawk riders of Megatalpa, and the Realm bastion of Greyfalls. There's a lot of interesting tension in the area, and Halta is a "highyl civilized" nation that has different politics and allegiances than many other similar states in other regions of Creation. Add to this the picturesque setting, where you can trip on legalized drugs, discuss politics with giant talking bats, snakes, and pards, or just look like a fool as you almost fall off a wooden bridge 200 feet off the ground, and you have a great base of operations for deep-forest Eastern adventures. Halta "home country" for any character who wants animal companions, because the Haltans are expert animal handlers, and intelligent animals form part of their society; there are even rules for playing intelligent baboons, although I have my doubts about the long-term viability of such a character.
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| − | '''Who should use it:''' Probably best suited for Lunar, Solar, Outcaste Dragon-Blooded and (probably) Fair Folk games. Great for mortal-oriented games. Possibly good for Abyssals especially if you work for the Dowager of the Irreverent Vulgate in Unrent Veils, whose shadowland is in this area. Good for players with "temperate woodlands" concepts, players who want talking animal buddies or a good variety of concepts for familiars and pets, players who want to be "rangers" or "druids." Brief point-templates are provided for playing Haltan nobles, judges, and priests. Has material for STs who want more information on the Bull of the North's campaigns, Fair Folk working together with mortals, or a base of operations for deep forest adventures. Great for anyone who really likes animal rights, cheap drugs, hordes of man-spiders, or berserk magical mecha on permanent autopilot.
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| − | ----
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| − | Original Author: metasynthie on RPG.net
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| − | [[Category:Exalted]]
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