TheGreatCrusade

The Great Crusade

PbP RPG.NET Exalted Apotheosis Game

Storyteller: LiofOrchid

Players: Ddawson, Hattori, Metatron

Characters

Steadfast Stands the Mountain, Zenith Caste Solar
Mister Blonde, Dawn Caste Solar, formerly a Dusk Caste Abyssal
Mister Orange, Twilight Caste Solar

The Voice of the Sun

East of Gem, buried beneath the sands of the desert, is the temple-city of Zah-Amun. In RY 768, five years after the Scarlet Empress had forsaken her Realm, a Circle of Solars and one renegade Deathknight laid claim to Zah-Amun. These four Solars, who lived in Gem, believed that Zah-Amun held the key to redeeming their Deathknight compatriot and freeing him from his Deathlord's hold.

Unfortunately, their claim was contested by the Gold Faction of the Sidereals and their Solar students from Kether Rock. A Chosen of Battles, Tariq the Red, at first tried to persuade and cajole the Solars from Gem. He promised them ancient artifacts, martial and spiritual training and support from the forces of Heaven. But he refused to accept their Abyssal ally. Tariq the Red demanded that the Abyssal's death be a condition of their alliance. He argued that the deathknight was irredeemably corrupt, and that total destruction was his only possible fate. The Solars from Gem refused to turn on their friend, who despite his darkness, had shown himself loyal and true.

Solar battled Solar in the sand-filled halls of golden Zah-Amun. The battle raged for hours, back and forth, until every combatant had expended their last mote of essence. The students of Kether Rock fled, bearing away the corpse of their sifu, Tariq, who had perished. But one of the Solars from Gem, a wily Night Caste, had been wounded near to death, and the dim mak techniques of Tariq the Red still did their work.

(This is where we insert the dramatic redemption scene, the final unearthing of the temple-city by activating the ancient essence engines, and the Voice of the Sun speaks out across the entire world. It needs some work.)

In the months after the Voice of the Sun spoke, the Cult of the Illuminated and many variations thereof, have spread like wildfire across Creation, but especially in the South. Mortal kings like Tyrant Rankar of Gem have converted, and their subjects take after their ruler in droves (especially when he offers tax breaks to the faithful). Many of Solars who were once pawns of the Sidereal Gold Faction have turned against their former sifus, and struck out on their own to forge their destinies. With the Immaculate Order reeling and the Cult of the Illuminated hijacked by the Solars it was meant to control, the Sidereal Exalted have turned viciously on one another, letting slip the reigns of fate.

The Realm might have been content to ignore the Bull of the North - Yurgen Kaneko's ambitions lay in the Hundred Kingdoms and the Scavenger Lands, where the Realm held no sway. But the rise of Sun worship in the South threatens the very foundations of the Realm. Without tribute from the rich Southern metropoli, without firedust from Southern mines, without the rich slave trade and the spice trade, without the vast harvest of the Lap, the Realm would be much weaker, indeed. So weak that their empire might truly collapse, that Anathema feet might trod on the soil of the Blessed Isle as invaders and conquerors! So, the Dynasts of the Great Houses for once begin to put away some measure of their enmity, and gather their Legions to head South.

Elsewhere, and beyond, are the realms of Malfeas and Authcthonia... but they will not matter to this story.

Cast of Characters

Steadfast Stands the Mountain

A Zenith Caste Solar Exalt who has spread open worship of the Unconquered Sun far and wide.

played by Ddawson

Once in Gem there was a boy who worked in the mines. Of average intelligence, he held no great ambitions. One day, due to no fault or virtue of his own, he became caught up in a scheme of a courtier, having been a witness to a murder in the mines. When the matter became a political issue, the courtier arranged for the boy to be offered a bribe to lie in his testimony in open court, but the boy refused. The bribe was increased--still he refused. The courtier was at this time quite high in the Tyrant's favor, so before long, the boy was threatened with torture--threats which was followed through on when he continued to hold true. Finally, he was ordered exposed in the desert for a full week--after which he would be allowed to testify as he wished. This was a death sentence, of course--but the boy clung to life beneath the watchful Sun, and when he was finally about to lose his grip on life on the last day, he was Exalted. With new-found vigor, the young man returned to court and testified with surprising eloquence, leading to turmoil in the court and the ouster of many corrupt officials.

Taking the name of Steadfast Stands the Mountain, he met others like him soon thereafter and joined his fate to theirs. He began to preach the truth of the Unconquered Sun wherever they went, and while this brought many enemies down upon their heads, he endured and prevailed, assembling a far-flung body of believers.

One of his constant themes has been the need to re-establish the proper hierarchy of worship, but he recognizes that the First Age model (whereby all communication with the spirit world goes through the Exalts) won't work--at least not until the entire social structure of the First Age is restored as well. Thus, he has encouraged the worship of local deities, as long as their place in the big picture is understood. (The fact that this runs directly counter to the Immaculate Philosophy is part of his motivation here, admittedly.) A major success of this approach has been the alliance he has forged with the Golden Lord of An-Teng.

Sadly, events in Chiaroscuro did not go so well, with his efforts to convert the locals to the worship of the Unconquered Sun disrupting delicate negotiations the Circle was undertaking. Luckily, his position was at least compatible with Grandmother Bright's wishes, and she stepped in, putting him in her debt. He thought he might repay that debt by preventing a false Solar claimant to the Kha-Khan position from taking power, but she turned out not to be overly concerned about the issue--though he did end up putting Tamuz somewhat in his debt.

One of Steadfast's goals was to "liberate" the Lap from its status as a tributary to the Realm, depriving the Realm of much of its foodstuffs while amply providing for any force the Circle could muster, but even as he led a force in that direction, the First and Forsaken Lion sent an overwhelming force ahead of him. After the Last Supplicant awoke and dealt a heavy blow to this force, Steadfast moved his forces in and finished the defeat of Walking On Laughter.

• One incident in which their Limit Break caused problems for another PC. During negotiations for some vital sorcerous lore in Chiaroscuro, he ended up going on a conversion drive, ruined the negotiations and nearly sparked out-and-out war with the Delzahn.
• One ally of the Circle. This ally will be closest to the character of the player choosing them, but should have tension or conflict with another PC. The Golden Lord, god of An-Teng.
• One enemy defeated by the PC. Walking On Laughter, Dusk Caste commander of the armies of the First and Forsaken Lion.
• One living enemy of the Circle. Duke Aral, of the Ruby Court. He declared his opposition to the Circle when they appeared to be a minor, if interesting threat--and he can't back down from that now.
• An NPC who owes the PC a debt. Tammuz.
• An NPC whom the PC owes a debt. Grandmother Bright.
• A major change to the setting. The Last Supplicant in Lap has awakened due to an attack from the First and Forsaken Lion, and now has everyone in the area thoroughly off-balance. It is occasionally making demands of the local Realm garrison in accordance with some private logic. It is completely unknown how it would behave in the event of a Solar-led attack.
• A minor change to the setting. The previous Despot of Gem is dead, and they had to dig moderately deeply through the family trees to find a new one.

Mister Blonde

Formerly a Dusk Caste Abyssal Exalt, formerly sworn to the First and Forsaken Lion, redeemed by the power of the Unconquered Sun, and now a Dawn Caste Solar Exalt.

played by Hattori

Mister Orange

A Twilight Caste Solar Exalt, a master of the Adamant Circle.

played by Metatron

• One incident in which their Limit Break caused problems for another PC: Unethical experiments involving mortals, animals... anything really and lots of essence or magitech cause a fair bit of discomfort for some associates. Some outright refuse to deal with him directly. (He doesn't really have the time to sit around and experiment much, but when he Limit Breaks he tends to do these kind of things, for Science!)
• One ally of the Circle: Cacek Vochem, an outcaste Fire-Aspected Dragonblooded warlord, whose tribe lives in the area about the manses. After the Solars settled into the ancient complex, they quickly befriended the terrestrial who was more than pleased with the prosperity brought to the region by the Exalts.

Artifacts

Morning (Previously Mourning)

Soulsteel* Reaper Daiklave Speed 4 Acc 4 (6)* Damage 18L Defense -2 Rate 3 Tags P, R, Drain motes*

Minor powers: Infalliable summons, No attunement issues, Never harms master, replicates Hungry Tiger Technique or Spirit-Cutting Attack on-hit.

Major Power: Essentially a modified version of Five Magical Materials form. By igniting the power of the host of souls harvested from across Creation, he catalyzes a reaction within himself, unleashing his full potential. He attains the pinnacle of Solar - some say Exalted - combat.

Burn X Willpower. Gain Motes equal to (10X), which may surpass your mote pools. Every action, you must burn 10 motes or lose them anyway. You may regain more than 10 motes an action, but it's unlikely you can keep this up when not in combat (So he can go hours in combat, if necessary, but he can't just walk around like this all the time). You may continue to spent WP and gain 10 motes per point spent. Gain one point of Limit and the Beacon of Power Flaw. When you reach 0 motes, this effect ends and you should not use it for seven days and seven nights. If you attempt to activate it prematurely, you do so, but gain three points of Limit instead of one, and all wounds taken become Aggravated.

Visual Effects: The nearby environment may suffer extreme damage from the manifestation of the character's power. Non-heroic creatures may be instantly annihilated. The sky darkens as if it were night, and the character flares, a miniature sun.

Gains all the benefits of Five Magical Materials Form, modified below:

• Starmetal: All unarmed attacks use Melee and have the properties of Morning. Immune and invisible to Fate.
• Moonsilver: May move at the speed of light. Travel instantly to any location you can see unaided. All attacks are unexpected, you may replicate hopping defenses for 3m.
• Jade: As-is, Melee version.
• Orichalcum: Your DVs cannot be lowered (perfect). Inflict Aggravated Damage to Creaturse of Darkness.
• Soulsteel: Nothing may reduce the damage of your attacks. (Soak, Hardness, Twilight Anima, etc.)
• [5+ WP spent] Power Overwhelming: For purposes of Feats of Strength, you have a Strength of 30 and may execute them as a Speed 3 Action. If your attacks connect, you may apply Heaven Thunder Hammer (Melee) reflexively for 1m. No effect that relies on its target being of lower Essence than the user (Divine Decree, Great Thinker's Defense Strategy) may be applied to you.
• [7+ WP spent] Essence Unconquered: If your hair is not blond and your eyes not green, they become so. Triple your Appearance and apply the effects of Perfect Symmetry and Glance-Oration Technique. You become like unto the Primordials (see Beauty is in the Eye), and no god or elemental can oppose you. Any mortal that sees you worships you (this is a perfect effect, as Worshipful Lackey Acquisition).

---

Sixfold Stave of Binding, Artifact 4

This ancient artifact was forged in the High First Age for a great general, but poor sorcerer. The staff is constructed of three magical materials, with white jade forming the bottom, then starmetal about the middle and finally an orichalcum cap that holds a socket for a hearthstone. The core of the staff is a shaft of malfean iron which acts as the main focus for influencing and commanding demons. In addition to the below abilities, the stave can be used as a weapon with the statistics of a regular staff and no magical material bonus. Attunement cost: 8

• Convert all dice in bind rolls to successes.
• Mentally communicate with all summoned creatures at any time, across any distance. This will never be mentally taxing and the wielder cannot be affected by social attacks conveyed in this manner, though the summoned creatures gain no special protection against your words.
• Gain (Essence) successes on all War, Socialize, Presence, Performance, or Linguistics rolls when interacting with your summoned creatures.
• Speed 6 Acc +2 Damage +7B Defense +2 Rate 2 Tags 2,R