Anathema: We've started!

The idea is that every Exaltation carries with it a caste. (deprecated sourcebook info follows) When you Exalt, you're supposed to exalt into a caste, which defines your role. Problem is, when the Lunars got pushed out into the Wyld (aka the place beyond Creation's borders, where the laws of reality quit working), the caste system eventually broke down. Thus, the caste-fixing tattoos were invented. Sadly, by the time the tattoos were ready, three of the castes had already broken down, so now they just tattoo any of those as "Changing Moon."


Revlid, meanwhile, fixed a whole bunch of writer gaffes revolving Lunar thematics (such as Form Lock), so now you can actually make LUnar characters that work properly in relation to other types.




As for the two of you, Wolfji is high Temperance, so... yeah. This will be interesting.

Yes, I'm rather... law upholding, considering my profession. Though, hey, where they get it isn't my buisness, it's like running a pawn shop.

Heh heh... This'll be fun.

So, Eo, am I the only one with a high Temperance?

Legs, what Virtue did you focus on?

Wolfji has the highest, I think. MidnightClub's pit fighter might have high temperance, I think. Actually, I know he's got some Holy charms, which will come in handy, but I don't remember what his Temperance is.

Conviction, and then the one I'm not focusing on is Compassion.

I could have gone for Temperance, but I finally decided that it probably means the real rules, not one's own rules.

So, what's the goal you have conviction for? I don't know mine yet.

This portion from the core book might be helpful for that:

Quote :

Motivation is a short description of your character’s primary goal. It’s what drives your character to go out and be a hero, and it is part of the reason the Unconquered Sun chose her for Exaltation. Most mortals have relatively mundane and unexceptional Motivations such as “become wealthy,” “marry someone nice and have a happy family,” or “live a quiet life on a tropical island.” Celestial Exalted are Chosen specifically because they have the seeds of greatness within them. The Chosen of the Sun (and all other Celestial Exalted) cannot have mundane or pedestrian Motivations—by their very nature, Celestial Exalted are epic heroes, and their goals must be similarly epic. Everyone who is Exalted deserves it. Your character might not have been wealthy, powerful or famous, but everyone who is Exalted already had a soul large enough to accept a fragment of divine power.

Possible epic Motivations for one of the Chosen of the Sun include: “restore the Solar Deliberative,” “destroy the Realm and slay all of the Dynasts,” “make a lasting peace between the Fair Folk and inhabitants of Creation,” “become the leader of the Guild and transform it into a tool of the Solar Exalted,” “redeem the soul of one of the Abyssal Exalted,” “become widely acclaimed as the best thief, musician, assas- sin or diplomat in all of Creation,” “kill a specific powerful deity,” “end slavery in Creation,” or “protect the inhabitants of my nation from harm.” Many other Motivations are pos- sible, and in most series, every character will have a different Motivation. However, every character’s Motivation must be large and must be something that will take many sessions of roleplaying to accomplish. Not only is a goal like killing the mortal mayor of a small town insufficiently epic, it is also far too easy for one of the Chosen of the Sun to accomplish.

When deciding on a Motivation, consider what in your character’s history or concept pushes her to redefine the world according to her hopes and dreams. A compelling, dramatic Motivation can give you a lot of mileage for roleplay in any series. Perhaps a squad of Dragon-Blooded soldiers killed your character’s family when she Exalted, and every blow she strikes against the Realm’s minions is a blow struck for her family. Your character’s Motivation must answer the question, “Why does she do the things that become the stuff of legend?”

Quote :

WHAT IF MY MOTIVATION
ISN’T EPIC ENOUGH?
Many new Exalted players are unfamiliar with the epic scale of this game and choose Motivations that are somewhat less grand. Killing the Dragon-Blooded satrap of a Threshold kingdom or protecting a single town from all harm are typical examples of such Motivations. As the player learns what her character can do, and as her character gains experience points, she is likely to realize that she thought too small. At this point, she has two options, she can either choose another Motivation or she can expand on this Motivation. Protecting a town from harm can easily grow to become a desire to become the protector of an entire nation or even an entire quarter of the Threshold, and slaying a single satrap can grow to become the desire to free all of the Northern coastal states from the Realm’s control. A player may expand (but not change) her character’s Motivation without spending experience points if the Motivation proves to be insufficiently epic. However, each expansion after the first costs two experience points, just like any other change in Motivation.

Either to become an accomplished, corrupt politician/businessman, start a guild of thieves, or be remembered in infamy.

...

Also, gold. Lots of gold.

Then I guess mine would be "To learn as much as is capable of being learned in one lifetime?"

Or as much as can be in several.

You're practically demigods! You can do whatever you want!

Arch: Any old mortal can become a politician. Exalts lift entire countries to greatness! Think bigger! If the Realm knew that at least three very notable countries were secretly invented and ruled by Elder Lunars...

Ji: WHy learn as much as you can in one lifetime, when you have hundreds of lifetimes? The only Exalt known to have died of old age was about 100,000 years old. How could you apply that learning? Would you start your own civilization? Construct artifacts that the world has never before seen? Construct a new species from scratch with the bioengineering of the First Age? Raise sunken Luthe from the depths of the sea and restore it to glory?

Construct artifacts greater than ever seen in the past sounds quite nice, and epic.

They are artifacts if they are new.

I'll mark down your motivation as "Make the first N/A rated artifact since the First Age," then. (an N/A artifact is technically Artifact 6, but the rating doesn't go that high. There are some examples in Wonders of the Lost Age.)

Jac: Anything man-made that channels Essence is technically an Artifact.

I like that motivation.

Umm. Red Cape...

...

...

He is a rather simple fellow. He likes power... I can see him liking being a King of Thieves. By which I mean ruling his own country? Or something along those lines. He likes power, I suppose... And he believes money and coercion is the quickest way to achieve it.

Hmmm... Taking over a country and ruling it over as tyrant would probably be the way to go, but taking over is relatively easy. It's all a matter of what you do with it once you get it. I'll let you pick which one later under your control.

But truthfully it's easier for me to see Red Cape slip out of history, forever forgetton by those who come after him.

I think his true epic motivation would be amassing gold. For what, though... To slip away? Silently play the puppet master on the other side of Creation? I dunno...

To amase a large enough treasure pile to subject the entire world into contractual slavery with him?

Wonder how one sets about making an N/A artifact... I guess, first, you need to know what you want it to do...

Oh, and my friend says his is to "Punch the ocean in half"

Even better; make people willingly become his slaves.

Oh god what am I saying Red Cape isn't that evil. Or is he... Oh well. That will have to be answered later.

Exactly.

Maybe he just wants to be the best and most feared warrior in existence?

ArchDemon wrote:

But truthfully it's easier for me to see Red Cape slip out of history, forever forgetton by those who come after him.

I think his true epic motivation would be amassing gold. For what, though... To slip away? Silently play the puppet master on the other side of Creation? I dunno...

I have decided that this will be his motivation. He'll likely never achieve it, if only because he hrs himself killed by a rival thief, but hey, this is Red Cape. Who gives a sh*t.

So he really, really wished he was Exalted as a sidereal?

Archdemon: Sounds like you want a Thousand Streams River project. Basically, that's the grand Lunar project to found new societies that are strong enough to stand for themselves. The old Realm collapsed when the Solars died because the Solars were what held it together. A nation built by the Thousand Streams River would ideally not require an Exalt to rule it - although one working from the background and steadily collecting offerings of silver/jade (gold is not used as money in Exalted due to its association with the Solars) is never a bad thing. So, after starting such a project, Red Cape could fade off into the shadows, guiding his creation and steadily growing rich and doing whatever he feels like doing with the cash.

If your motivation is something any old mortal could do, you're thinking too small.

Wolfji: Artifact creation rules are in Oadenol's Codex. Basically, you have to make a bunch of Artifact 5 components and put them together to make the finished product. Having an idea of what is to be done is generally a good thing.