The Sword That Ends the World [Quest]

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

I'm in favour of the Commoner, if only because it fairly reeks of a Solar Exalteds background.

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

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.

[ ] 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.

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.

Patrician

Who says cheaters never win?

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.

[x] Commoner.

Ah, okay. Never mind the gender bit then.

Still voting dynast, though.

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!

It was mainly to joke about ZnT.

Dynast IS the path of hard work. Patrician is the path of intrigue, and commoner is the path of natural genius.

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?

[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.

@ mc2rpg: It probably depends on what choices we make instead of our backstory.

[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.

Whatever choice is made, it will be....interesting.

[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?

[ ]

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.