The Sword That Ends the World [Quest]

Discussion in 'A BROB is for you! - For all your Roleplaying Need' started by Rihaku, Jul 31, 2012.

  1. Rihaku The Internet

    This will be a quest thread. You will play a newly accepted student of Her Imperial Majesty's Naval Academy. Unique among them, you will not (yet?) be Exalted. The setting will be, obviously, Exalted. The system will be the incomparable Legends of the Wulin. You will not need to be familiar with either of those to play.

    First, thread guidelines:

    1) This is a quest thread; all readers participate to control the actions of one character.

    2) Destiny can be gained through completing objectives and also through reader participation. Each new participant gives 1 more Destiny to spend; you may designate what you'd like that to be spent on. Particularly active or insightful participants will receive additional bonuses at my discretion, up to and including Ruling Council seats if the Blade of Udr is awakened.

    3) Write-ins, detailed plans/discussions, and fan-works are encouraged. These will grant substantial bonuses given quality.

    4) Majority rule is not necessarily the order of the day. A compelling argument can be worth more votes than blank support.

    5) There will be deviations from the base Exalted setting and LotW system. In particular, the role of certain problematic NPC types will be diminished. Cosmetic and stylistic changes, especially in nomenclature, will also be common.

    Character Creation

    The Realm is the colossus that bestrides Creation. Sprawling and magnificent, it embodies all the glory and excess of Imperial Britain or Dynastic China. Every year, an ocean of blood is loosed in its wars. Every month, a civilization is ground into dust under its booted feet. Every day, ten thousand men die with its name upon their lips, whether as sacrament or as curse. Cultures shattered, tongues forgotten, cities carved from earth and sky; high society, mountains of silver, fields salted, fire and sword: all these lie within the grand sweep of its history. On the toil of untold millions, the Realm stands as a shining, bloodstained beacon of human and superhuman achievement. It is the grandeur and horror of empire given form.

    As a citizen of the Realm, you've been taught from birth to idolize and aspire to its heros: the Exalted of the Immaculate Dragons. Princes of the Earth and capable of superhuman feats, they hold every privilege and position of significance - social, spiritual, or military. Many children dream of Exaltation, but the Dragon-Blooded are not made, they are born. The overwhelming majority of Dragon-Blooded exalt before the age of seventeen. As you approach your nineteenth year, it has become increasingly clear that you were not born as one. Though you are doomed to mere humanity, however, you have not resigned yourself to mediocrity. With the reinstatement of Headmaster Zao, the Imperial Naval Academy has returned to his unusual merits-only entry exam. For the first time in many decades, there is the possibility of a fully-commissioned mortal officer. Of course, the inherent skill of the Dragon-Blooded has always meant that such an exam was no barrier to a full class of Exalts. Who ever heard of a mortal commanding a Prince of the Earth?

    No one, until you arrived. Somehow, you managed to attain a score in the top ten percentile of a field composed entirely of Exalts. Somehow, you were accepted.

    [ ] Dynast. The Empress may have disappeared, but the power of her eleven Dynastic Houses has waxed if anything. As a Dynast, near-royalty, you were expected to Exalt early. Your cousins and friends certainly did, for all that they worked one-tenth your share. Every year you did not, your parents and mentors turned their attention ever-so-slightly away, until the age of your majority, when you were a Dynast in name only. Determined to prove yourself worthy of that name, you redoubled your efforts and redoubled them again. You were not handed your power. You were not born into it. Through hard work and excruciating practice, you will earn it.

    [ ] Patrician. The mortal patrician classes are second-class citizens to even the unExalted children of the Dynasty, but they still live in opulent luxury compared to the average resident of the Realm. Before your mother was assassinated, she taught you that every rule was open to negotiation - power was the only law anyone truly respected. With her sixth husband an absentee bureaucrat, you her son have had plenty of time to take those lessons to heart. Only a fool takes the high road. Real winners use leverage. They attack from unconventional angles. They work smart so they don't waste energy working hard. Through a mixture of bribery, blackmail, and blatant cheating, you were accepted where only Dynasts tread.

    [ ] Commoner. Your father was a sergeant in the Legions, and his father before him. Your mother is a freed scribing-slave. Growing up, you were always different from the children around you. Smarter, sharper, quicker - you possessed a most extraordinary talent, and no lack of will to develop it. Numbers and figures, languages and history: all of it came easily to you. With a desire to rise out of the streets, you threw yourself into your studies. You never imagined that a test you took only for the challenge of it would open a door into the world of the Exalted. Will a life spent worshipping the Dynasty leave you ill-prepared for its challenges? You are not overly concerned, though. You've always been a fast learner.
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  2. Rihaku The Internet

    Current Character Sheet:
    [10 Unspent Destiny]

    Rank 3
    Total Cultivation 82
    Total Entanglement 60
    Lake 9
    River [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
    Secondary River (from anima) [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
    Essence Aura 4

    Joss: 0 Enlightened 0 Corrupt
    Essence: 12 (Cultivation 4/12) + 2 Abyssal (Cultivation 0/10) + 3 Water (Cultivation 4/15) + 3 Earth (Cultivation 8/15)
    Essence Breath: 4 Standard + 1 Abyssal + 1 Water + 1 Earth per round
    Essence Thresholds (Light Armor + 5) 25/50/75

    Compassion 1
    Conviction 2
    Temperance 3
    Valor 5

    Skills

    Might +25 (+5 Bestial Feats), Hardiness +25 (+5 Holding Still), Finesse +15, Tactics +25 (+5 Crushing the Weak)

    Crafting +15 (+5 Flesh and Stone), Learning +15 (+5 Ancient History), Politics +15, Medicine +5

    Inspire +25 (+5 Dread), Perform +25 (+5 Questions), Confidence +25 (+5 With Lackeys), Wu Wei +25

    External

    Eight Legends

    Speed +10
    Footwork +5
    Strike +20
    Block +20
    Damage +15
    Toughness +15

    Techniques: All techniques known (+5 Strike, Block, Damage, Toughness). Already factored into the above.

    Internal

    Mountain-Body Skill - Mountain Power 1, A Name That Shakes the Heavens 2, Flesh Like Granite 3, Mountain-Beast Hunting 4, Towering Barmanu Body 4, Fang and Avalanche Strike 5

    1: Mountain Power
    *Your attack causes one additional Ripple if it hits.

    2: A Name That Shakes the Heavens
    *Round-Long Duration
    *You have +10 to Hardiness and Might
    *You have +10 to Chi Aura

    3: Flesh Like Granite
    *You have +15 to Block
    *If your Block exceeds the attack result by more than 10 points, you may Reply

    4: Towering Barmanu Body
    *Round-Long Duration
    *You have +20 to Toughness
    *Channel: 2 Essence to extend another round. You must do so at the beginning of that round.

    4: Mountain-Beast Hunting
    *You have +20 to Strike
    *You have +10 to Disrupt and Disorient Marvels

    5: Fang and Avalanche Strike
    *You have +25 to Damage
    *If your attack hits and causes an injury Condition, you may immediately make a Recovery roll against one physical Condition afflicting you. This roll has a -10 (trivial), -5 (minor), or -0 penalty.

    Ice Sutra - Moment of Cold 1, Ice Cracking the Willow 2, Frozen Shadow 3, Devastation of Black Ice 4, Returning-to-the-Void Prayer 5

    1: Moment of Cold
    A sudden chill; the briefest frost - surely a precursor of the winter to come!
    *You may use the Freeze effect as a Minor Action on your attack with a +5 bonus.

    2: Ice Cracking the Willow
    Wood, stone, steel, flesh: the icy wind cuts through it all.
    *Apply a -10 penalty to the defender's Toughness.

    3: Frozen Shadow
    The air becomes chill and thick, as if frozen: wind and water become armor of black ice!
    *For the entire round, everyone in the same zone attacking you suffers a -5 penalty to their Strike.
    *You may boost this technique. For each additional point of Essence spent, increase the penalty by 5, to a maximum of -(5 x your River slots).

    4: Devastation of Black Ice
    Black ice rimes your weapon as an obliterating wave of cold sweeps outward. What force can withstand such chill?
    *Apply a -10 penalty to the defender's Dodge and Block.
    *If the attack hits, inflict one additional Ripple.

    5: Returning-to-the-Void Prayer
    Ultimate stillness flows from the Void. To the Void, all things return in time.
    *You may use the Freeze effect as a Minor Action on your attack with a +25 bonus. If it forces a Rippling roll, that roll receives a +15 bonus.
    *If the Freeze effect of this attack hits, your target regains no Essence of any sort for the entire round.

    Secret Arts

    The Warrior’s Art
    *Unassailable Battle-Saint Technique
    *Every-Battlefield Compass Approach

    The Courtier's Art
    *Story of the Self
    *Manipulating Passions
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  3. Rihaku The Internet

    Story Posts:

    This list is comprehensive but NOT kept up to date; for the most recent posts, continue on from the last story post.

    Character Sheet

    Initial Character Creation
    Fighting Style Selection
    Seacrown
    The Headmaster's Speech
    The First Night
    Fire and Sword
    A Decision Made in Haste
    First Class
    Post Facto
    Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class
    Zao's Recommendations (on Classes)
    Class Run-Off Vote
    The Shape of the World
    The Ten Thousand Circustances
    No Mercy
    Salt and Thunder
    Passing Muster
    Feet of Clay
    Scars
    Weak Points
    Before the Storm
    Drumbeat of War
    The Last Shogun
    As In the Beginning

    End Prelude

    With Great Power
    A Distant Shore
    Darkness At Noon
    Time and Tide
    Moonlight
    Rivers and Lakes
    A Dream of Clouds

    End Chapter 1

    Chapter 2 Start
    Rabbit's Foot
    Twice-Striking Lightning
    Further Exposition on Sidereal Motives
    Cloak and Dagger
    Praestarr's Answers
    The Mirror of Udr
    Vine And Sling
    Hard Intelligence
    The Corpse That Waters
    A Name That Shakes the Heavens
    A Truth That Dawns Like Thunder
    A Question That Demands Reply
    Rubble and Ruin
    The White Swordsman
    Dealing with Flare
    A Silver Claw
    Opening Act
    The Blackened Blade
    Three Shades of Darkness
    Sins of the Father
    The Gathering of the Fellowship
    A Stitch in Time
    No Beast Upon It
    Sacred Hunt
    Fallout

    End Chapter 2

    Ends and Beginnings
    The Sword that Ends the World
    The Ruling Council
    Five Divine Venoms
    Time Flies
    Creation-Bound

    Notes:

    External/Internal Style Chargen Explanation
    On Analogies With Exalted Combat
    On the Difficulty of Predictionism
    Explanation of Predictionism
    On Ulyssian's Lie Detection
    Conflict Resolution in LotW
    Rihaku's Abyssal's Explanation
    Power Unlocks
    LotW/Exalted Skill Analogues
    Internal Styles and Their Obvious-ness
    Joss/Deeds Explanation
    Void Essence and Ultimate Weapon
    Internal Style Limits
    The Anathema Threat
    Nature of the Void
    Names and Mardukth
    Luck impact
    Mardukth
    IC Abyssal Knowledge
    Rajakalueh's Character Sheet
    Cavalier's Rajakalueh opening write-in
    Orm's Rajakalueh combat write-in
    Link's Rajakalueh surrender write-in
    Cavalier's Rajakalueh cooperation write-in
    Orm's Rajakalueh cooperation write-in
    Cavalier's post-combat write-in
    Cavalier's write-in to convince Nilul
    Cavalier's prayer write-in
    Cavalier's KnK-inspired write-in to heal Moon
    Link's write-in to gather more information
    Link's medicine-training write-in
    WMD's write-in for luring the HMK
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  4. BeRzErKeR Indigent Madman

    Compete on a level playing field with the Exalted? Hah! Don't make me laugh! Sure, we could do that, maybe, but why take the chance?

    If you're not cheating, you don't care enough.
  5. Berserkslash Tonight. You.

    Awesome, let's succeed by the power of hard work! Let this be our Springtime of Youth! Haha.

    [X]
    Dynast
    . The Empress may have disappeared, but the power of her eleven Dynastic Houses has waxed if anything. As a Dynast, near-royalty, you were expected to Exalt early. Your cousins and friends certainly did, for all that they worked one-tenth your share. Every year you did not, your parents and mentors turned their attention ever-so-slightly away, until the age of your majority, when you were a Dynast in name only. Determined to prove yourself worthy of that name, you redoubled your efforts and redoubled them again. You were not handed your power. You were not born into it. Through hard work and excruciating practice, you will earn it.
  6. Alectai Mercenary Captain

    Because building your own legacy from the sweat of your own brow is Always better then following someone else's
  7. DakkaMania Techpriest

    I'm in favour of the Commoner, if only because it fairly reeks of a Solar Exalteds background.:p
  8. Tetsurou Communist Penguin

    [x] Dynast, I'm thinking a small pink-haired female. ;p
  9. Berserkslash Tonight. You.

    That one doesn't fit with what you want though Alectai, the first is the hardworker, getting by on his own merits and forging forward through blood, sweat and tears of endless effort, the second is the one who get's by using underhanded tactics, never meeting the overwhelming force of the exalts head on but from the side or back, guiding them as they like, and the last is the from birth genius, works hard but everything comes naturally to him.
  10. Darik29 Here, have a Cookie!

    [ ] Dynast. The Empress may have disappeared, but the power of her eleven Dynastic Houses has waxed if anything. As a Dynast, near-royalty, you were expected to Exalt early. Your cousins and friends certainly did, for all that they worked one-tenth your share. Every year you did not, your parents and mentors turned their attention ever-so-slightly away, until the age of your majority, when you were a Dynast in name only. Determined to prove yourself worthy of that name, you redoubled your efforts and redoubled them again. You were not handed your power. You were not born into it. Through hard work and excruciating practice, you will earn it.

    This. So much this. The blood of royalty flows through our veins, yet we were never Exalted. Even though we worked harder than our cousins, even if we exceeded the expectations of our tutors in every way, we were not Exalted. Here now, as an officer of the Royal Navy, may we finally prove ourselves worthy of our noble lineage. Nothing shall bar our path.

    Edit: Gender Female, rather short with pink hair. For the lulz.
  11. trooperist Your Despair Pleases Me

    Oh you.

    [X]Dynast. The Empress may have disappeared, but the power of her eleven Dynastic Houses has waxed if anything. As a Dynast, near-royalty, you were expected to Exalt early. Your cousins and friends certainly did, for all that they worked one-tenth your share. Every year you did not, your parents and mentors turned their attention ever-so-slightly away, until the age of your majority, when you were a Dynast in name only. Determined to prove yourself worthy of that name, you redoubled your efforts and redoubled them again. You were not handed your power. You were not born into it. Through hard work and excruciating practice, you will earn it.
  12. Deadly snark Welp, we're screwed.

    Patrician


    Who says cheaters never win?
  13. Rihaku The Internet

    Sorry this was only implied by the Patrician writeup, but your character is for plot reasons nineteen years old and male. The Dynasty is naturally a matriarchy, and you've got every obstacle piled in front of you.
  14. IronForge Seeker of Knowledge

    [x] Commoner.
  15. Darik29 Here, have a Cookie!

    Ah, okay. Never mind the gender bit then.

    Still voting dynast, though.
  16. Berserkslash Tonight. You.

    Come on, let's got the path of Hard Work! We'll kick reason to the curb and force our way forward with the strength we work so hard to gain!
  17. Tetsurou Communist Penguin

    It was mainly to joke about ZnT.
  18. Darik29 Here, have a Cookie!

    Dynast IS the path of hard work. Patrician is the path of intrigue, and commoner is the path of natural genius.
  19. I don't know nthat much about exalted, but do any of those backgrounds sound more likely to draw certain types of exaltation/castes than the others?
  20. HecateGW No longer rampant and practicing techno-sorcery.

    [X] Patrician. The mortal patrician classes are second-class citizens to even the unExalted children of the Dynasty, but they still live in opulent luxury compared to the average resident of the Realm. Before your mother was assassinated, she taught you that every rule was open to negotiation - power was the only law anyone truly respected. With her sixth husband an absentee bureaucrat, you her son have had plenty of time to take those lessons to heart. Only a fool takes the high road. Real winners use leverage. They attack from unconventional angles. They work smart so they don't waste energy working hard. Through a mixture of bribery, blackmail, and blatant cheating, you were accepted where only Dynasts tread.

    We are not so accustomed to the luxury and arrogance of the Dynasts and we are not as blindly naive or wholly unaccustomed to higher social circles as the Commoner.

    Also, we have a rather unique position in that we realize both the dangers and the benefits of both the upper and the lower classes.

    Uncoventional will become our real weapon in that we can dicate the terms of any 'game' we play.

    If we are 'losing', the key then is to change the rules so that the endgame/goal becomes different, as well as, the methods used to get to said endgame.

    By doing this, we will usually possess the advantage of surprise and unorthodox techniques that can and will be exploited by us to the fullest, even if it might appear that the opposition gained more by those who are less....shall we say, mentally inclined.
  21. Darik29 Here, have a Cookie!

    @ mc2rpg: It probably depends on what choices we make instead of our backstory.
  22. [x] Dynast. The Empress may have disappeared, but the power of her eleven Dynastic Houses has waxed if anything. As a Dynast, near-royalty, you were expected to Exalt early. Your cousins and friends certainly did, for all that they worked one-tenth your share. Every year you did not, your parents and mentors turned their attention ever-so-slightly away, until the age of your majority, when you were a Dynast in name only. Determined to prove yourself worthy of that name, you redoubled your efforts and redoubled them again. You were not handed your power. You were not born into it. Through hard work and excruciating practice, you will earn it.
  23. HecateGW No longer rampant and practicing techno-sorcery.

    Whatever choice is made, it will be....interesting.
  24. tzeench Done being bored, time to do stuff~!

    [X]
    Patrician

    . The mortal patrician classes are second-class citizens to even the unExalted children of the Dynasty, but they still live in opulent luxury compared to the average resident of the Realm. Before your mother was assassinated, she taught you that every rule was open to negotiation - power was the only law anyone truly respected. With her sixth husband an absentee bureaucrat, you her son have had plenty of time to take those lessons to heart. Only a fool takes the high road. Real winners use leverage. They attack from unconventional angles. They work smart so they don't waste energy working hard. Through a mixture of bribery, blackmail, and blatant cheating, you were accepted where only Dynasts tread.

    This reminds me the more of a possible infernal, which is what I'm most interested of the setting.

    Oh, and welcome back to the land of SB Gm's Rihaku! This is what, your third quest?
  25. [ ]
    Dynast

    . The Empress may have disappeared, but the power of her eleven Dynastic Houses has waxed if anything. As a Dynast, near-royalty, you were expected to Exalt early. Your cousins and friends certainly did, for all that they worked one-tenth your share. Every year you did not, your parents and mentors turned their attention ever-so-slightly away, until the age of your majority, when you were a Dynast in name only. Determined to prove yourself worthy of that name, you redoubled your efforts and redoubled them again. You were not handed your power. You were not born into it. Through hard work and excruciating practice, you will earn it.


    They say you should be the best ,past the test, beat all the rest.
    Why? Cause of Blood? What Crud.
    You stomp that reasoning in the muuud!
    You haven't exalted. But you didn't Default, Ed.
    You got up, buckled down, and simply ground your way to toooowwwwwwn!!
    Blood, Sweat, and Tears, drowned out all your fears.
    They pushed you to top ,but guess what you ain't gonna stop!




    You're a Dynast!

    Made by Will.
    You earned every single bit of your strength and skill.
    They say your effort was insane, you say they're lazy.
    You say you gotta go further, they Say you're crazy.

    You're a Dynast!

    Truer than any other.
    It doesn't matter that no-one beleieves in you not even your mother.
    You think you need that shit? Heck Naw True Facts brother.
    You got your Honor, Your Skill, And Your Self Respect!

    You're a Dynast!

    Your will is the Key.
    Everyone worth knowing has the eyes to see.
    Just what a Diamond in the rough I know you to be.
    You're gonna be great, reach the top, surpass them all, and never stop.

    You're A Dynast Motherfucker make your own Dynasty.



    Fansong Ready to Rock. Made on the spot cause I'm just that hot.
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