Those of you to be in my online [Exalted] game, come here.

[Random Nerd]

Ok. Barring misfortune, it looks like the game will be starting a week from tomorrow (Well, technically today, I guess), on Monday the Seventh, starting some time between 9 and 10 EST (That's GMT-5) and continuing for at least three hours.

Assuming nobody has dropped out, the group should be
Lucid
Aliasi
Uematsu
Ravi
Willows
Creeper

Some of you have made PCs, some have not. For those of you who have, could you repost them here? For those who have not, could you have something worked out by Wednesday night?

Also, has everyone read the "Elementalblooded, Dragonblooded..." thread dealing with elementalblooded in the Realm? I don't expect to have the elementalblooded Immaculate martial arts ready by the time the game starts, but it should be possible to work out a way to play a non-Immaculate EB if that's what somebody wants.

[Unregistered]

Here's a repost of mine

name - Cathak Najat
aspect - fire
concept - irresponsible young noble
nature - Thrillseeker
house - Cathak

strength - 4
dexterity - 5
stamina - 3

charisma - 2
manipulation - 2
appearance - 2

perception - 3
intelligence - 3
wits - 3

abilities
lore - 2
brawl - 3
awareness - 3
endurance - 3
archery - 3
performance - 1
ride -2
survival - 3

aspect abilities
athletics - 3
dodge - 5
melee - 5
presence - 3
socialize - 3

background
artifacts - 4
(jade articualted plate, jade reaver daiclave, hearthstone bracers)
resources - 3
breeding - 3
manse - 3
(windhands gemstone, gem of the calm heart, salt-gem of the spirit's eye)

charms
ox-body
efortlessly rising flame
falling star maneuver
dragon-graced weapon
ghost-fire blae
flickering candle meditation
safety amongst enemies

virtues
compasion - 2
temperance - 2
conviction - 2
valor - 3

willpower - 5

essence
personal - 10
peripheral - 23
committed - 15


I haven't had time to write up a decent background on him because I have been working on my own Exalted game. I will write something up tonight and post it here.

NPC_lucid
on the company PC

[Random Nerd]

Ok, it turns out that I'll be out-of-state on Monday night, and unable to GM then.

So the first session will be pushed back a week, to the 14th.

Sorry, but it's a situation outside of my control.

[DeadlyUematsu]

Sweet. I'll get my ideas together right away!

[Random Nerd]

Oh, and for reference, other than the Realm alterations with the elementalblooded thing, in this game, it is currently late in Realm Year 758, rather than the default 762, and the vanishing of the Empress has been pushed back a year to Calibration of 756 instead of 767.

Also, Lunars are very much less common, and are often confused with Wyld-tainted people and with beastmen. In fact, they may not actually exist. Luna's role in heaven is a lesser one than in canon. Moonsilver still exists, though.

Other major variations from canon will be mentioned when and if they occur to me.


(Edit: Oh, a bit of minor explication on the elemental thing, the elemental courts and the Realm are much closer politically, as both bodies contain people descended from the other one.

Some differences as a result of this that are relevant to sorcery: elementals who can trace out a blood tie, however weak, to a member of a dynastic family are considered to have the rights of members of the patrician class, so no summoning them all willy-nilly and sending them to their deaths. Demons, though, are still considered to have no rights whatsoever.

On the other hand, any sorceror with blood ties to the elemental courts can, instead of casting the spell that summons and binds an elemental, choose to cast one that calls for aid from any elemental relatives that may be in the area. They're not compelled to do the bidding of the sorceror, but they're likely to be well-disposed towards him.

In the Realm, dynastic elementalbloods are considered to have a status midway between Dragonblooded and non-Exalted members of the various Houses. Mortals are expected to defer to them, and they in turn are expected to defer to true Dragonblooded. There's a mild social stigma amoung well-bred Dragonblooded against both EBs and DBs with large amounts of elemental blood, but it's not universal.

The Immaculate Order discourages the marriage of elementals and Dragonblooded, but not to the degree that they're against marriage to gods, and they don't treat the resulting offspring particularly badly, although EBs are not seen as having the same status with relation to the Immaculate Philosophy as DB do. Elementalblooded dynasts are permitted to join the Immaculate Order, and there are variant versions of the Five Dragon Styles that are designed for their edification and use.)

[four willows]

Ledaal Kulum
An Air-dragon of the Immaculate Order.
Concept: Scholar Warrior
Nature: Explorer

str, sta 3
dex 4

chan, man, app: 3

per 3
int, wits 2

Abilities:

Air:
Ling 3
Lore 3
Occult 2
Stealth 3
Thrown 5

Fire:
*Athletics 3
*Dodge 4
Melee 2
Socialize 1

Wood:
Medicine, Survival: 1

Earth:
Awareness 1
Endurance 2
*Martial Arts 5

Water:
Bureaucracy, Investigation 2


Backgrounds:
Artifact, Breeding, Manse: 3
Resources: 2
Connections: 1

Virtues:
Temperance 3, others 2

Essence 3

Willpower 5

Charms:
Spirit Sight/Walking
Air Dragon's Sight
Breath-Seizing Technique
Wind Dragon's Speed

I'm examining the idea of a Wood-aspect archer character as well; more on him later

[AliasiSudonomo]

Ledaal Kebok Tsuke - Earth Aspect Dynast

Concept: Kung Fu Sorceror

Nature: Savant

Str 4 Dex 4 Sta 5
Cha 2 Man 3 App 2
Per 3 Int 2 Wits 4

Abilities

AIR
Ling. 2
*lore 2
*Occult 3

FIRE
*Athletics 2
Dodge 3
Melee 2
Presence 2
Socialize 2

WOOD
Archery 1
Performance 1
Ride 1

EARTH
Awareness 2
Endurance 1
Martial Arts 3
Resistance 3

WATER
Bureaucracy 2

Backgrounds:

Artifacts 1
Breeding 4
Connections (Heptagram) 2
henchmen 2
Manse 2
Resources 3

Virtues:
Compassion 2
Conviction 3
Temperance 1
Valor 3

Essence 3 Willpower 6

Charms:
Effortlessly Rising Flame
Falling Star Maneuver
Five-Dragon Claw
Five-Dragon Fortitude
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery

Spells:
Flying Guillotine
Invulnerable Skin of Bronze

Combos:
5D Claw + Falling Star Maneuver

Stuff:
2 Hearthstone Amulets (white jade, in the form of bracers)

2 hearthstones - Gemstone of Last Resort and Stone of Quick Thought

Chain shirt

Languages: High Realm, Old Realm

Henchmen(brief description):
Ledaal Catala Rya - a non-Exalted Dynast, yet well-reputed as one of House Ledaal's most knowledgable on First Age artifacts
and legends. She does most of the actual archaelogy when Tsuke is on a goodie-hunt for the house.

Breezeborn - a mortal native of a small kingdom in Scavenger Lands no one outside of it has heard of, he has a gift for

languages and is fluent in the most common languages of the East and the Scavenger Lands, and serves as Tsuke's interpreter

when required, as well as a "native guide".

[DeadlyUematsu]

Sesus Ramjurr
Aspect: Water
Concept: Nefarious Matchmaking Assassin
Nature: Bravo

Underneath the guise of an eccentric matchmaker, Sesus Ramjurr is the both darling of the social circles and one of thier most coveted killers. Eager to please, he has earned a reputation of great stature for being particularly ruthless and thorough in his assassinations. His skill has been rewarded through continued allowance to live. As long as Ramjurr keeps killing and leaves his clients' reputations untarnished, he will live. Ramjurr knows he is playing a dangerous game with very dangerous people and he is thoroughly enjoying it. He can afford a few mishaps. After all, he is peerless. Infalliable.

Attributes:
Str 3 Dex 3 Sta 3
Per 4 Int 3 Wit 3
Chan 2 Man 4 App 2

Abilities:
Air
Linguistics - 1
Lore - 2
*Stealth - 5

Earth
Awareness - 2
Endurance - 1
Resistance - 1

Fire
Athletics - 3
Melee - 1
Presence - 2
*Socialize - 3

Water
*Brawl - 5
*Investigation - 2
*Larceny - 4
*Sail - 2

Wood
Archery - 2
*Performance - 3
Ride - 1
Survival - 2

Backgrounds:
Artifacts - 2 (Jade Smashfist, Hearthstone Amulet, Hearthstone Bracers)
Backing - 2 (Various Clients)
Connections - 4 (High Society)
Manse - 2 (Gem of Water-Walking, Sphere of Balance)
Reputation - 4 (Ruthless, Thorough)

Virtues:
Compassion - 1
Conviction - 3
Temperance - 2
Valor - 3

Essence: 2
Personal - 8
Peripheral - 20

Willpower: 6

Charms:
Become the Hammer
Blade-Deflecting Palm
Distracting Breeze Method
Loquacious Courtier Technique
Memorable Performance Technique
Ox-Body Technique
Warm-Faced Seduction Style

[Random Nerd]

*notes PCs*

Ravi, Creeper, got yours done?

And those of you who haven't posted backgrounds, have you worked them out yet? I need these things at least a couple days before Monday when the game is to start.

[Random Nerd]

Umm...


Aliasi, I've gone over the stats for your PC, both with Tanuki's character generator and by hand, and I don't see how you could have produced that as a starting character.

On the plus side, you do appear to have three points worth of abilities that you've not allocated...

...but on the down side, your PC seems to require 25 bonus points (10 for Essence Three, 2 for the fourth level of Breeding, 1 for the extra sub-three background point, and 12 for those three extra levels of physical attributes) and DragonBlooded only get 15 bonus points to spend.

I'm sorry to have to bring this up, but I will really have to see an accounting for these points, or otherwise drop some stuff to bring him back to baseline.

[Eric E.]

Originally posted by Random Nerd
*notes PCs*

Ravi, Creeper, got yours done?

And those of you who haven't posted backgrounds, have you worked them out yet? I need these things at least a couple days before Monday when the game is to start.

Just about. I should have my character to you tomorrow.

[AliasiSudonomo]

Originally posted by Random Nerd
Umm...


Aliasi, I've gone over the stats for your PC, both with Tanuki's character generator and by hand, and I don't see how you could have produced that as a starting character.

On the plus side, you do appear to have three points worth of abilities that you've not allocated...

...but on the down side, your PC seems to require 25 bonus points (10 for Essence Three, 2 for the fourth level of Breeding, 1 for the extra sub-three background point, and 12 for those three extra levels of physical attributes) and DragonBlooded only get 15 bonus points to spend.

I'm sorry to have to bring this up, but I will really have to see an accounting for these points, or otherwise drop some stuff to bring him back to baseline.

That's odd. I *used* Tanuki's generator when writing him up. Mayhaps I stumbled onto a bug, or one of us is missing something. I'll check it when I get home (at work now).

[AliasiSudonomo]

Alright, I've checked my chargen version, and found I mistyped my stats. Go me! I forgot three points in Air abilities (mandatory dynast ones, at that) and for some reason totally fuxored my attributes. So, the CORRECT version. I think. :D

Ledaal Kebok Tsuke - Earth Aspect Dynast

Concept: Kung Fu Sorceror

Nature: Savant

Str 3 Dex 3 Sta 5
Cha 2 Man 3 App 2
Per 3 Int 2 Wits 4

Abilities

AIR
Ling. 2
*lore 2
*Occult 3
Stealth 2
Thrown 1

FIRE
*Athletics 2
Dodge 3
Melee 2
Presence 2
Socialize 2

WOOD
Archery 1
Performance 1
Ride 1

EARTH
Awareness 2
Endurance 1
Martial Arts 3
Resistance 3

WATER
Bureaucracy 2

Backgrounds:

Artifacts 1
Breeding 4
Connections (Heptagram) 2
henchmen 2
Manse 2
Resources 3

Virtues:
Compassion 2
Conviction 3
Temperance 1
Valor 3

Essence 3 Willpower 6

Charms:
Effortlessly Rising Flame
Falling Star Maneuver
Five-Dragon Claw
Five-Dragon Fortitude
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery

Spells:
Flying Guillotine
Invulnerable Skin of Bronze

Combos:
5D Claw + Falling Star Maneuver

Stuff:
2 Hearthstone Amulets (white jade, in the form of bracers)

2 hearthstones - Gemstone of Last Resort and Stone of Quick Thought

Chain shirt

Languages: High Realm, Old Realm

Henchmen(description only):
Ledaal Catala Rya - a non-Exalted Dynast, yet well-reputed as one of House Ledaal's most knowledgable on First

Age artifacts and legends. She does most of the actual archaelogy when Tsuke is on a goodie-hunt for the

house.

Breezeborn - a mortal native of a small kingdom in Scavenger Lands no one outside of it has heard of, he has a

gift for languages and is fluent in the most common languages of the East and the Scavenger Lands, and serves

as Tsuke's interpreter when required, as well as a "native guide".

[Random Nerd]

Well, this one's a lot closer, but he still seems to be two bonus points up from the norm. Is that Breeding supposed to be 3, perhaps?

Wait, that's four points, because I forgot to add the two for starting with that 5DClaw+Falling Star combo.

Instead of typing out all those numbers again, could you just attach a zipped copy of your character file from the generator?

(Oh, and also, remember that as per my comments earlier, you'll get the Infallible Messenger sorcery spell free of charge, as it's needed for game purposes, but I didn't want to force people to spend their points a given way.)

[four willows]

So, these are the Manse and Artifact details for Kulum:

(out of corebook and Three Circles)

*** Windhands Gemstone
** Stone of the Empty Knife
* Stone of Quick Thought


** Dragon's Tear Tiara: Holding the Windhands Gemstone.
This Dragon's Tear Tiara is moonsilver and white jade; it's shaped into a wreath of twisting branches.

** Faithful Jade Chakram:
This is a blue jade disc with a delicate openwork pattern of snowflakes interwoven with clouds in the centre, framed by a sharpened, scalloped edge. Upon close examination, it becomes evident that the clouds write out the character for 'faithfulness'.

This chakram is identical mechanically to the Infinite Jade Chakram, but rather than staying in the character's hand, it flies out of the character's hand and back at incredible speeds, cutting arcs like a boomerang.
Stats:
Acc +0 Damage +1L Range 30 Rate 5 Attune 4

*,*: Two Hearthstone Amulets, in the shape of a handflower and an armband, in a design matching that of the tiara. These hold the other two Hearthstones.

[Ravi]

Sorry, I didn't notice this thread earlier. I'd like to get some more info on the Elemental-blooded thing, so I'll bug you on #rpgnet if you're on tonight. Otherwise, I'll post what I can come up with tomorrow.

-r

[Random Nerd]

Ok, the way it's looking now, the PCs will be taken by boat from the Realm to a point several days travel southwest of Thorns, not far to the soutwest of where the canonical position of the Bayou of Regret.

They'll be expected to scout out the area in an attempt to determine the nature of the attack, whether any groups survivors of the Thorns massacre remain, whether Lookshy is responsible, whether Anathema or gods are involved, and how much of a threat the rumored hordes of undead pose the Realm.

Every five days, the group is expected to use sorcery to report to their superiors, who will send Infallible Messengers to them at similar intervals with instructions. Should messages not be sent for two report times in a row, it will be assumed that they have been captured or otherwise hindered. In addition to this, each character will have a small jade disk back home attuned to him (with a sub-mote commitment), which will cease glowing should the commitment be broken. If this happens, the Realm will conclude that the individual attuned to the disk has been killed unless told otherwise.

If all group sorcerors have died, or they have otherwise been rendered unable to report, they are to attempt to contact any Realm-friendly elementals who can be persuaded to take a message back home.

Characters are expected to obey any orders from their superiors on the Blessed Isle, and to take a majority vote on all other issues. Should ties occur, whichever character has the highest Reputation will be empowered to cast a tie-breaking vote. They are not empowered to negotiate on behalf of the Realm unless specifically ordered to, and are not to speak of their findings with any in the Scavenger Lands, although they are allowed to state that they're investigating the destruction of Thorns.

Material in the corebook and the Dragonblooded book is generally accurate, save as mentioned earlier. Scavenger Sons, Abyssals, and other books may be correct, but don't make any assumptions based on them and then be surprised when you're wrong. <a href="http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?threadid=56589">Rafel's variant Imperial Calendar</a> will be used. Due to various contradictions between timelines, the one in the Dragonblooded one will be treated as the official one, save for the changes that the Empress vanished in 761, the Council of the Empty Throne occured in 762, and Thorns was sacked in 24 Ascending Water of 763.

The game starts when the boat carrying the PCs strikes land, in Realm Year 763, Resplendant Water 23. 27 days have passed since the fall of Thorns. In 33 days, it will be Calibration, the second one after the vanishing of the Empress. Good luck, Dragons bless.

[Eric E.]

Okay, here's the Tanuki char-gen file for my character. While the level 3 manse allows up to 6 levels of hearthstones, I only took 1 level 3. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have to purchase the hearthstones with my artifact background, no?

Anyway, here is a brief synopsis of Walks-with-Storms. A member of house Tepet who is sent, along with the rest of his siblings, on a quest to bring the family back to glory. Each of the siblings went their own way, taking a path that suited them. WWS has taken the some-call-it-easy route of joining the underside of the world, associating with the bad sorts, and trying to dig what dirt he can for leverage to bring Tepet back to power.

Upon news of the assault on Thorns, WWS has been sent to investigate the happenings and find the sibling, who had managed to forge a secret alliance of sorts, but had been unable to reveal more until she met the family face to face. She never showed up.

[Eric E.]

Okay, totally weird. The forum says I uploaded and won't let me upload again. So, here's the character in another format.

[Eric E.]

Crapola. I'll post something in the Trouble Tickets. I'll email you the file.

[four willows]

Okay, in light of what we discussed the other night, I'm making these changes to my Abilities:

Lore 4
Thrown 2
Athletics 4
Awareness 2

I haven't figured out my Resources and Connections yet, but I'm a-thinkin'.

Edit:

Resources: "Access to Immaculate goodies."

Connections, Immaculate Order:
Tepet-Rakush Sawsan Deep-in-Thunder, an Elementalblooded Dynast, Immaculate Priestess of the Air Aspect. Sawsan is descended from a rakush, an air elemental that can take the form of a silver horse, a tangle of lightning, or a maiden with hair like rose petals and eyes full of storms. She has, in addition to marks of her Air lineage, signs of the rakush blood - a scent of roses and ozone and eyes that glitter like falling rain or striking thunder.

[Random Nerd]

Originally posted by Creeper
Okay, here's the Tanuki char-gen file for my character. While the level 3 manse allows up to 6 levels of hearthstones, I only took 1 level 3. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have to purchase the hearthstones with my artifact background, no?


At least the way I read it, you buy the hearthstones with the manse background, as they're something that comes with the attunement.

Even if I'm somehow wrong, don't feel the need to spend artifact levels on 'em, as at least the way I'm running it, manse comes with hearthstones included.

[AliasiSudonomo]

Originally posted by Random Nerd
Well, this one's a lot closer, but he still seems to be two bonus points up from the norm. Is that Breeding supposed to be 3, perhaps?

Wait, that's four points, because I forgot to add the two for starting with that 5DClaw+Falling Star combo.

Instead of typing out all those numbers again, could you just attach a zipped copy of your character file from the generator?


Done and done.


(Oh, and also, remember that as per my comments earlier, you'll get the Infallible Messenger sorcery spell free of charge, as it's needed for game purposes, but I didn't want to force people to spend their points a given way.)

Yeah, but I didn't know if we'd have *other* sorcerors. I mean, right now Tsuke's sorcery mainly serves to make his Kung-Fu more badass by gaining the ability to just wade through the opposition. Well, that and the ability to cut off heads. :D

So, if there were more seriously-sorcery interested characters, I'd expect THEM to have IM. But I won't complain, because hey, free spell!

[AliasiSudonomo]

Blah.

[Random Nerd]

All Sorceror PCs get the spell.

The Realm's got a vested interest in seeing that the Radio Guy role has as much redundancy as is feasible, so they'll give a crash course in Infallible Messenger to all the PCs who know Sorcery.

[Ravi]

Sorry I wasn't able to talk to you last night, RN. We had a slight case of power outage, due to the storms. I've got a Wood-aspect character mostly worked out. I'll email you the details when I get home for work.

One thing I noticed while using Tanuki's character generator. It doesn't seem to charge the extra points for raising abilities above 3. That might have been part of the discrepency you noticed earlier.

-r

[Random Nerd]

*fiddles with the character generator*

Well, my copy certainly seems to charge points for <u>></u>4 abilities. And it gives the same results as working things out by hand...

As for the wood guy, sorry I missed you last night before your power went out.

[Ravi]

I meant that it charged one point per dot. I was under the impression that it cost two points for each dot above three. I might be mistaken, though.

[Random Nerd]

Ok, the game will soon begin. Anyone who's not somehow sent me a copy of their character background should do so in the next day or so, if that's even vaguely possible.

[Random Nerd]

Oh, one other minor change to a setting detail. In this game, the "Wyld Hunt" is not called that, as it has nothing to do with the Wyld.

Instead, it's just the Hunt, and a specific instance of it is a Hunt or an Anathema Hunt.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

[Random Nerd]

The game will be starting tomorrow at 9:30 PM EST. Try to be there a half-hour early, so we can work out any needed details.

If you're going to be unable to come, tell me <i>now</i> so the group won't get held up waiting for you.

[AliasiSudonomo]

Originally posted by Random Nerd
The game will be starting tomorrow at 9:30 PM EST. Try to be there a half-hour early, so we can work out any needed details.

If you're going to be unable to come, tell me <i>now</i> so the group won't get held up waiting for you.

Where is "there", precisely? I recall you mentioning an IRC network, but you didn't say what channel you'd use.

[Random Nerd]

Ah, yes. Meet in the #rpgnet channel on magicstar, and we'll separate off from there when everyone's arrived.

[Random Nerd]

If doing so is even vaguely plausible, could everyone who hasn't done so post a copy of their character's background here?

This would be useful, both so I'll have a single place to look for details instead of having to go through email, PMs, and so forth, and so the other players can get more of an idea of what your PC is like.

[Ravi]

Kailas was born to a family freshly down on its luck, the familial estate having been seized and reallocated by the Empress in one of her many political dealings about twenty years before his birth. Still, he was raised properly, and in a rare stroke of fortune, his father was able to call in a favor with an old family friend, Tepet Vergus Chiaru.

Chiaru had recently lost all three of his children to the wars in the North and decided to adopt Kailas when he turned twelve, and sponsored his admission to the House of Bells a few years later. Kailas's obvious aptitude for swordfighting helped ease his way into the secondary school, despite his provincial home schooling.

While at school, Kailas managed to catch the eye of a young woman named Dara, of House Peleps. Quite to his surprise, she thought him charming as well, and they soon found themselves deeply in love.

It was not to be, however. When Dara revealed to her parents that she had chosen someone to marry, they immediately researched his past and upon finding he was not a true Tepet, refused to consider it and forbade Dara from speaking to him ever again. After their graduation, Dara was assigned to one of the house legions and sent off to Thorns. Before she was shipped out, she managed one last visit to Kailas, where she left him her family bow as a promise that she would return. That was three years ago, and he has not heard from her since.


Tepet Kailas
Wood Aspect
Nature: Architect

Str 3 Dex 4 Sta 3
Cha 3 Man 3 App 3
Per 4 Int 3 Wits 3

Compassion 2 Temperance 2
Conviction 2 Valor 3

Essense 2

Willpower 5

Abilities:

AIR
Linguistics 1
Lore 2
Thrown 2

FIRE
Athletics 2
*Dodge 3
*Melee 5
Presense 3
*Socialize 3

EARTH
Awareness 3
Craft 1
Endurance 1
Martial Arts 2

WATER
Investigation 2

WOOD
Archery 4
Medicine 2
Performance 3
Ride 2
Survival 2

Backgrounds:

Artifacts 5
Breeding 3
Manse 3
Resources 3

Charms:

Ox-Body Technique
Flickering Candle Meditation
Loquacious Courtier Technique
Dragon-Graced Weapon
Stoking Bonfire Style
Spring follows Winter
Swallows Defend the Nest

I'll describe the artifacts in more detail at a later time. He has the bow, given to him by Dara, in addition to his normal weapons, a matched sword and dagger.

[AliasiSudonomo]

Ledaal Kebok Tsuke

Tsuke is a descendant of Ledaal Kebok, and took after his ancestor heavily. He was a studious and active sort when younger, and despite an interest in the martial arts he was judged worthy of attending the Heptagram. He was a superior student, and made many friends and aquaintances there. Surprisingly, halfway through his education he seemingly had a turn for the worse, academically, and flunked out of the academy. The truth was that the Sidereal advisors to the Ledaal elders forecast that should young Tsuke continue his education, he would almost certainly be slain, but if he should live he might yet be of use to his House. Accordingly, he was pulled out and offically, he failed to make sufficent progress. Unofficially, the Sidereal instructors at the Heptagram were well aware of the situation, and Tsuke remains in correspondence with them.

Formal schooling no longer being an option, Tsuke continued his education through a private tutor, and was carefully informed of the dangers in the future regarding the Deathlords, the true nature of the astrologers that had always served the family, and his place in the scheme. Resolving not to let his House down, he trained in the Five-Dragon style, reaoning that while weapons can be broken, and allies turned against him, one always has themselves to rely on.

Now, he is in the Eastern threshold with his Catala brethren, assisting in the recovering of ancient texts and artifacts. It is a job he enjoys, but Tsuke is beginning to feel an itch to quit merely exploring and discovering and USE some of what he has learned...

Appearance and Outlook: Tsuke is a stocky man on the short side of average. His skin is dark brown, as befits his excellent connection to the Earth Dragon. Tsuke's hair is prematurely gray, but as he regularly shaves his head this isn't often noticed. When he isn't on some sort of offical matter that requires he look noble, he prefers to wear simple, loose clothing in the style of peasants, albeit of much better quality fabric.

Tsuke has a traditional-oriented mindset. This does not conflict with his love of scholarship by any means - after all, the most exciting discoveries are things of the First Age. Still, he believes that customs get that way for good reasons, and chief among those customs is the dominance of the Realm and the Dragon-Blooded over Creation. Like many of his house he is less concerned about who rules the Realm than that there be a Realm left to rule.

He is a devout young man, although open minded. While he believes absolutely in the right of the Dragon-Blooded to rule, he believes just as strongly the bits of the Immaculate Philosophy that say the superior should respect and not mistreat his lessers, and strives to reflect this in his own dealings with mortals, his servants particularly. That said, life in the Threshold quickly teaches that the Immaculate Philosophy is not entirely accurate in all aspects and he has no tolerance for literalists.

[four willows]

Five marble towers rise from a field of scarlet flowers. At their feet, two figures spar, quick and graceful as dragonflies.

Five white fingers break the surface of a bloody sea. They clutch a tempest between them, and a moment later a stillness rimed with fire. The Second Breath. A warrior hangs on a wisp of air, feeling his own glory overfly him, watching frost write words of wisdom and madness across the petals of flowers, etch them into the towers that strain toward the sky. Leaps forward faster than the eye can follow, trailing scrolls of snow, strikes his master with a hand that suddenly feels deeper into the world.

The master blocks. The master bows. "Your soul has earned Exaltation, Ledaal Kulum. Know that it may yet be stripped of it, if you do not continue to cultivate yourself as you have in your past incarnations." The master strikes the apprentice down with a motion of a hand: subtle, delicate, perfect, crackling with docile lightning. "Remember that pride and humility both are virtues, child."

Two Princes of the Earth stand in a circle of wind-torn flowers and smile.


Ledaal Kulum, unlike many of his branch of the family, was groomed to be an Immaculate monk from an early age; they felt that his soul needed to be purified further, due to his muddy Aspect markings and less-than-ideal parentage. Not brilliant but perceptive, agile, and pleasant, his early education was a quietly proper one, though shadowed by his better-bred half-siblings. His father was a mortal of Tepet house, his mother an Exalted general of the Legion. Shortly after his birth his father was found mysteriously dead, all the bones in his body having been gruesomely removed. Kulum's mother remarried soon after, to an Exalted scion of Mnemon; they bred vigorously, and soon Kulum's home was overflowing with young Ledaals with the pale skin and sapphire eyes of flawless ancestry. His family was rather distant to him for most of his youth. Kulum's closest friend over the years, who only became closer - perhaps dangerously close - after he met Exaltation, has been Sawsan Deep-in-Thunder of Tepet-Rakush, an elementalblood and eventally fellow Immaculate of Air.

Like many Ledaals, Kulum is uninterested in Realm politics so long as they are outside his backyard, and like every Immaculate he is a firm believer in the official religion of the Realm. He has grown up to be a scholar-warrior, combining his physical training with careful cultivation of the mind.

Now Kulum is perhaps forty years old, though he retains the look of a lithe teenager. In the intervening years none of his siblings have Exalted, much to his parents' disappointment; he has meanwhile taken on strong Aspect markings: marble-pale skin and icy eyes, and grey-blue hair like a winter storm.

[DeadlyUematsu]

Yeah, yeah, it's incomplete. Give me some time though. I hadn't anything really detailed in mind...

Sesus Namjurr
Aspect: Water
Concept: Nefarious Matchmaking Assassin
Nature: Bravo

Overview

Underneath the guise of an eccentric matchmaker, Sesus Namjurr is the both darling of the social circles and one of thier most coveted killers. Eager to please, he has earned a reputation of same stature for being particularly ruthless and thorough. His skill has been rewarded not only by money but through the continued allowance to live. Namjurr knows he is playing a dangerous game and thoroughly enjoys it. He looks to Thorn as yet another trifle errand. He can afford a few mishaps. He is peerless, infalliable.

Childhood

Sesus Namjurr grew up learning to dislike responsibility but he also grew up learning to appreciate power. And he learned to crave it. He looked around and could only see the hunched backs of his brethen as they kowtowed and nawwed to thier superiors. He saw his beloved siblings go off to war, never to return. Maggots to be fed to the Specter of War. His father would take his wealth and joyfully hand them over to the unscrupulous magistrates. All for the glory of the Realm. Outwardly, he would curse his hatred. But inwardly, he was estatic. He admired the whips of the slave drivers, the cruel manipulations of the ministeries, and the ever omnious all-knowing crimson eyes of the Scarlet Empress. Namjurr also saw this same power in the shimmering halo of wealth, the tantalizing sensation of flesh, and the subtle glibness of the tongue. That was how his elder brother died. He watched in secret how the assassin bribed his servants, seduced his mother, and sent his father on his way to the Imperial City at the moment of a prominent position that was open. The power of deception was very strong indeed and this lesson was instilled deeply within Namjurr.

The Defining Moment

Namjurr cried that he would have nothing of it. He knew where his familial responsibility would led to his death. He stormed into his bedroom and lied down. He hurled down a sympathic maidservant and punched another that moved to restrain him. Namjurr leapt onto his bed, rolled off to his side, and stared blankly to the wall. He continued to make the sounds of sorrow and grief but the tears of his eyes had stopped and his cheeks grew dry. Only he knew the truth. He was the first to see the corpse of Sesus Ektae. Sesus Ektae was his elder brother. He was supposed to be inheritor to the family estate, the child of a perfect and flawless pair, a rising star in the political and military circles, a son that would not fail in his familial or state duties. Ektae was the paragon that Namjurr loathed to become but Ektae also wield the power Namjurr lusted for. Seemingly Ektae was untouchable. Namjurr never thought he would fall to a mere assassin. He was wrong.

Namjurr watched Cynis Rute accomplish the impossible. From behind columns of ice, he watched as Rute simply glided onto the premises, swaying the head servant and the peons to his favor with a mere two bags of solid gold. Rute then introduced himself to his parents, showing deftness to ignite the passion of his chaste mother while his father looked away, distracted by the rumors of prominent positions that were available in the Imperial City. Ektae, who knew of Rute's goal, would have nothing of it though and on several occasions, a friendly exchange between Rute and Ektae would turn into a merciless slaughter of servants along the balconies and halls, ending with a tenuous cease-fire and phony laughter. Namjurr witnessed these bouts. Clearly, this man had no chance of killing his brother. Ektae would not die.

Yet it was he who discover the body. At first, he only thought that Ektae was sleeping. He saw Ektae slumped over on his desk, his long black haired head, lying on a nest of documents and papers. But when he went closer, Namjurr could see that Ektae's eyes were open and his pupils had rolled up into the lids. His teeth were partly gritted in defiant desperate resolution and his fist still clenched tightly the feather pen he was writing. Was he poisoned? Was he choked? Or was he wounded internally and made to bleed to death? Namjurr wanted the answer. He pushed his brother over, chair and body, to see what went admist. He looked and he smiled, saying, "So that's how it was done...Impressive."

[Random Nerd]

One minor change, before we start:
Rather than having their ship drop them off <i>south</i> of Thorns, as I had originally intended, they will be dropped off <i>north</i> of it, at Celeren (which will be somewhat further south than in the normal map).

They'll have been ferried to their location in a small but exceedingly fast First Age boat made largely from jade, which can move between the Imperial city and their drop-off point in three days or so, given sufficient Essence to power it. It's steered by Peleps Harae

They'll be about five days ride north of Thorns, and characters can choose to start with horses from the Realm, but they may wish to purchase steeds after making landfall, as the horses of the Marukani are generally considered to be incomperable.

See all of you a bit before 9 EST in the #rpgnet channel on magicstar (GMT-5, I believe).

[Random Nerd]

Half of us are there, half are not.

Ready to go, those not here?

[Random Nerd]

Well, the game went pretty well, once it started.

Lucid, where were you?

[four willows]

Ledaal Kulum
An Air-dragon of the Immaculate Order.

Five marble towers rise from a field of scarlet flowers. At their feet, two figures spar, quick and graceful as dragonflies.

Five white fingers break the surface of a bloody sea. They clutch a tempest between them, and a moment later a stillness rimed with fire. The Second Breath. A warrior hangs on a wisp of air, feeling his own glory overfly him, watching frost write words of wisdom and madness across the petals of flowers, etch them into the towers that strain toward the sky. Leaps forward faster than the eye can follow, trailing scrolls of snow, strikes his master with a hand that suddenly feels deeper into the world.

The master blocks. The master bows. "Your soul has earned Exaltation, Ledaal Kulum. Know that it may yet be stripped of it, if you do not continue to cultivate yourself as you have in your past incarnations." The master strikes the apprentice down with a motion of a hand: subtle, delicate, perfect, crackling with docile lightning. "Remember that pride and humility both are virtues, child."

Two Princes of the Earth stand in a circle of wind-torn flowers and smile.

Ledaal Kulum, unlike many of his branch of the family, was groomed to be an Immaculate monk from an early age; they felt that his soul needed to be purified further, due to his muddy Aspect markings and less-than-ideal parentage. Not brilliant but perceptive, agile, and pleasant, his early education was a quietly proper one, though shadowed by his better-bred half-siblings. His father was a mortal of Tepet house, his mother an Exalted general of the Legion. Shortly after his birth his father was found mysteriously dead, all the bones in his body having been gruesomely removed. Kulum's mother remarried soon after, to an Exalted scion of Mnemon; they bred vigorously, and soon Kulum's home was overflowing with young Ledaals with the pale skin and sapphire eyes of flawless ancestry. His family was rather distant to him for most of his youth. Kulum's closest friend over the years, who only became closer - perhaps dangerously close - after he met Exaltation, has been Sawsan Deep-in-Thunder of Tepet-Rakush, an elementalblood and eventally fellow Immaculate of Air.

Like many Ledaals, Kulum is uninterested in Realm politics so long as they are outside his backyard, and like every Immaculate he is a firm believer in the official religion of the Realm. He has grown up to be a scholar-warrior, combining his physical training with careful cultivation of the mind.

Now Kulum is perhaps forty years old, though he retains the look of a lithe teenager. In the intervening years none of his siblings have Exalted, much to his parents' disappointment; he has meanwhile taken on strong Aspect markings: marble-pale skin and icy eyes, and grey-blue hair like a winter storm.

Concept: Scholar Warrior
Nature: Explorer

str, sta 3
dex 4

chan, man, app: 3

per 3
int, wits 2

Abilities:

Air (Caste Abilities):
Linguistics 3: High Realm native, Old Realm, Skytongue and Riverspeak additional.
Lore 3
Occult 2
Stealth 1
Thrown 2

Fire:
*Athletics 4
*Dodge 4
Melee 2
Presence 1
Socialize 2

Wood:
Archery 1
Medicine 1
Ride 1
Survival 1

Earth:
Awareness 1
Endurance 2
*Martial Arts 5

Water:
Bureaucracy 2
Investigation 2


Backgrounds:

Breeding 3

Resources 2: Access to Immaculate treasuries.

Artifact 3:
** Dragon's Tear Tiara: Holding the Windhands Gemstone. Attune 2.
This Dragon's Tear Tiara is moonsilver and white jade; it's shaped into a wreath of twisting branches.

** Faithful Jade Chakram:
This is a blue jade disc with a delicate openwork pattern of snowflakes interwoven with clouds in the centre, framed by a sharpened, scalloped edge. Upon close examination, it becomes evident that the clouds write out the character for 'faithfulness'.

This chakram is identical mechanically to the Infinite Jade Chakram, but rather than staying in the character's hand, it flies out of the character's hand and back at incredible speeds, cutting arcs like a boomerang.
Stats:
Acc +0 Damage +1L Range 30 Rate 5 Attune 4

*,*: Two Hearthstone Amulets, in the shape of a handflower and an armband, in a design matching that of the tiara. These hold the other two Hearthstones. Attune 1 each.

Manse 3:
*** Windhands Gemstone
Clear as water.
Allows a reflexive roll to dodge or parry ranged attacks at full relevant pool.

** Stone of the Empty Knife
Silvery-black disc.
Concentrate momentarily (the length of time it takes to sheathe or unsheathe a weapon) to turn a weapon into a tattoo or back.

* Stone of Quick Thought
Red and dark silver banded.
One extra die for Wits and Dexterity rolls.

Connections(Immaculate) 1:
Tepet-Rakush Sawsan Deep-in-Thunder, an Elementalblooded Dynast, Immaculate Priestess of the Air Aspect. Sawsan is descended from a rakush, an air elemental that can take the form of a silver horse, a tangle of lightning, or a maiden with hair like rose petals and eyes full of storms. She has, in addition to marks of her Air lineage, signs of the rakush blood - a scent of roses and ozone and eyes that glitter like falling rain or striking thunder.


Virtues:
Temperance 3, others 2

Essence 3
11 personal motes, 27 peripheral (8 committed to attune Artifacts)
Willpower 5

Charms:
Spirit Sight/Walking
Air Dragon's Sight
Breath-Seizing Technique
Wind Dragon's Speed

Anima:
1-3 motes:
Kulum's skin turns translucently blue-white, and the patterns in his eyes swirl restlesly.
4-7 motes:
Kulum's eyes begin to flash with light, and a cool breeze begins to whip up around him. In darkness, his skin emits a faint, moonlike glow.
8-10 motes:
Kulum glows with silver-blue light at this level of Essence expenditure, and snowflakes trail his movements. The breeze becomes a biting wind, 1L/min anima flux damage.
11-15 motes:
At this level, the snowflakes start writing words in the wind, and the wind is an icy, luminescent gale, which deals 1L per three turns of contact.
16+motes:
The glowing gale coils into an air dragon at this extremity, trailing white flower petals - or scales? branded with azure signs. Kulum's skin crackles with lightning, and his anima flux does 1L per turn of contact.

[Random Nerd]

For the next game, on Monday the 21st, everyone meet in the #rpgnet channel a bit before 9 EST. We'll pick up where we left off.

[NPC_lucid]

Originally posted by Random Nerd
Well, the game went pretty well, once it started.

Lucid, where were you?

I was under the impression that the game had been shelved. I thought it was off.

[Random Nerd]

What gave you that impression, Lucid?

[NPC_lucid]

Originally posted by Random Nerd
What gave you that impression, Lucid?

I thought I saw a post by you to the effect that you had missed your own game twice in a row and going on a third and you were going to shelve it for a while.

I must have gotten crossed somewhere.

[Random Nerd]

Ravi? Uematsu?

I seem to be leaking gamers.

[Random Nerd]

Ok, tonight's game will begin at 9:30 PM EST. Please try to be in #rpgnet by 9:20 at the latest, so we'll be able to start smoothly.


If you're unable to come, please mention that here in advance, so the rest of the group won't be waiting for you.

If you think you'll be unable to make the game on a regular basis, please, mention it, so I can bring in someone else who'll be able to be there.

That said, I look forward to gaming with all of you tonight.

[four willows]

My apologies for missing tonight's game... stuff happened, but all is well now. In the mayhem, though, I neglected to post about it here. My bad.

[Random Nerd]

Guys, I'm going to be out of state and internetless this coming Monday, and thus unable to run a game. We'll have it pushed back to the next week, then.

[Eric E.]

Cool beans. Just a reminder, I'll hope to connect from Mexico for the following couple of weeks. I'll post an update here.

[Random Nerd]

Game at Monday night, 9:30. Ravi won't be able to make it, so scenes involving his character will be either delayed 'til next week or handled between now and then. As for the rest of you, try to be there at least slightly early if that's possible.

I look forward to gaming with you all.

[Random Nerd]

Tomorrow night, 9:30, game lasts as long as it has to, you know the drill.

See you there.

[four willows]

Well, it looks like the computer lab closes at 7 tomorrow; I won't be able to make it.
Sorry, guys. Was looking forward to it.

[Eric E.]

I'll be there.

[AliasiSudonomo]

You know I'm there.

[Random Nerd]

Once again...

Tonight, 9:30 PM EST, try to be a little early if possible.

Hopefully, we'll be able to get the whole group together for the game, if not, we'll make do. Also, depending on how certain timing things work and such, we'll probably be integrating Sidhain/Tim Kirk's PC to the game at some point in the first half of the game.

I hope to see all of you there.

[AliasiSudonomo]

Hey guys;

none of you seemed to make it last week; the game IS still on...

[Random Nerd]

Guys, I'm sorry, but tonight's game is regrettably off.

I wish it weren't the case, but I'm fighting off the flu, and I'm just in no shape to run it.

Sorry, I'd hoped to be able to game tonight, but... oh well.

Next week will still be on at the regular time, though.

[Eric E.]

Get to feeling better soon RN.

[Random Nerd]

Okay, now, the game is on for this coming Monday night at 9:30 EST, I hope to see all of you there. If possible, try to arrive at least seven minute early, so that if there are any issues that need to be dealt with we can resolve them before the game proper.

If you're unable to make it, or will be late, please either mention it here or email me, so we'll know not to wait for you.

I apologize for the slight hiatus in the game, but we should be able to begin again and resume a normal weekly pace. See all of you then.

[Random Nerd]

Willows, you've missed the last few games we've had, and I've not heard from you either here or elsewhere.

Am I to assume that you're no longer able or interested in participating in the game?

If not, will you be able to make it to the next game?

And if so, do you mind if I give your character to someone else to redefine and play? My plans for this game involved at least one Immaculate PC, and while Sidhain's Elementalblooded fills in some of the niche, it would be preferable for various reasons if the group were able to still contain Kulum.

So, what's the deal?

[four willows]

Hey, RN.

The situation with me is that, while I'd love to continue playing in your game (that character was dang fun to write), I don't have Internet access at my home, so I can't guarantee that I'd be able to attend on any kind of a regular basis.

I seem to remember posting or PMing something of that nature, but I don't see anything like it in the thread or my Sentbox, so I guess I was wrong about that.

It's perfectly fine with me if you gave Kulum to another player, in light of those facts. Enjoy! Maybe I'll be lucky enough to game with you, and everyone else, again some other time.

[Random Nerd]

Okay, game tonight, meet in #rpgnet at 9:30 EST, see you all there.

If you can't make it, mention it here ahead of time, please.

[Random Nerd]

Game monday night, 9:30 EST, you know the drill.

[Eric E.]

I popped in the chat room around 6:30ish last night. My ISP was hitting the bong hard. I left to grab some food, and could not connect to the net the rest of the night.

Sorry I missed it. PM me what happened (somebody)?

[Random Nerd]

Okay, game tonight, 9:30. Hope to see you all there.

However, a week from tonight, there will <i>not</i> be a game, as I will be out of state. At least some of you know why, I imagine.

[Random Nerd]

Guys, I regret to say this, as I know that the game didn't meet last week, but academic matters have sapped my time and stamina, leaving me unable to do the preparation needed for the game or to have the needed energy to run it properly.

I'm sorry to say this, given that there was no game last week, and if things go the way I expect the factors that are problematic now will be notably less so a week down the road, but I just can't run a game tonight.

*sigh*

[Random Nerd]

Okay, game tonight.

Sorry about the hiatus, but it wasn't really avoidable. Still, 9:30 PM Eastern, as before. Try to arrive a little early, if possible, so we can go over what happened and refresh the memories of those of you who don't log the game.

See you then.

[Random Nerd]

Game tonight, 9:30 Eastern, try to be a bit early so we can reacquaint ourselves with what was going on.

See you all there.

[Random Nerd]

I know it's practically time, but if you see this and you're in the group, try to be there at 9:30 Eastern for the game...

[Random Nerd]

Sorry to cancel, but I've got a rather big paper due tomorrow, and I just can't spare the extra hours of preparation and then game.

Next week's fine, though.

[AliasiSudonomo]

just a note that the 12/01 game I may not be able to make. I'll have to travel for a family emergency, and while I may have internet access I can't guarantee it.

[Random Nerd]

Okay, I know it's a bit late to mention it, but if it's possible for all of you, it would be good if we could have a game tonight in the usual time and place.

I hope to see all of you there, and regret not posting this earlier.

[Random Nerd]

9:30 Eastern. Meet in #rpgnet. See you all there.

[Random Nerd]

Meet first in #rpgnet, game from 9:30 Eastern until when people have to leave, I hope to see you all there.

[Random Nerd]

Tonight, I'm preparing for a trip, and don't have time to also properly prepare for the game. A week from today, I'll be on the road on my way back.

Sorry about the gamelessness, but Real Life calls.

[Random Nerd]

Usual time, usual place. See you all there.

[Random Nerd]

Game meeting tonight, as usual... but before the game, we need to work out a schedule that'll be able to work for all of us, as the current one obviously isn't doing the job.

If you can be there for at least the first half hour, please do so, and if not, please mention times that you <i>can</i> be online so we can work something out.