Difference between revisions of "BSLunarBackgrounds"

Revision as of 09:02, 3 April 2010

Backgrounds for the revised Lunar Exalted

The Lunars are social animals, and while their societies are not as well-organized or as pervasive as those that govern the Abyssals, Sidereals, or Dragon-Blooded, they still have access to one another and as such are more likely to have forged elaborate social ties or placed themselves into a power structure than Solars. Lunars will receive 10 background points and draw them from the list below.

For ease of reference, new and modified Backgrounds are in bold. With thanks to DariusSolluman and others, whose work I draw from in this - check their revisions out! They're damn good!

• Allies (As normal, Exalted, pg 141.)
• Artifact (Modified, see DariusSollumanLunarsRevised/Backgrounds)
• Backing (As normal, Exalted, pg 142)
• Contacts (As normal, Exalted, pg 142)
• Cult (As normal, Exalted: The Lunars, pg 98)
• Familiar (As normal, Exalted, pg 143)
• Heart's Blood (Modified, see LunarHouseRules/ExpandedHeartsBlood)
• Heresy (New, see below)
• Horde (Replaces Followers, see DariusSollumanLunarsRevised/Backgrounds)
• Influence (As normal, Exalted, pg 144)
• Manse (Modified, see DariusSollumanLunarsRevised/Backgrounds)
• Mentor (As normal, Exalted, pg 145)
• Plunder (New - replaces Resources, see below)
• Portents (New, See below)
• Society (See below, modified from DariusSollumanLunarsRevised/Backgrounds)
• Sorcery (As normal, Exalted: the Outcastes, pg 67)
• Spies (Double cost, Exalted: The Abyssals, pg 134)
• Tell (See below, modified from DariusSollumanLunarsRevised/Backgrounds)
• Tutelage (New, See below)

HERESY
WARNING: Heresy is a potent background with a commeasurate cost and effect on the plot, somewhere in the realm of Inheritance. Its upper echelons may be reserved for NPCs - STs should be wary of players who wish to be heretics, as their sins will invariably affect the flow of the story and may interfere with the hopes of other players
You are an eater of gods - you dine, however you can, on the small deities, the tutelary spirits, the local gods, and other similar spirits. Such predation offers power - prayers that would strengthen the deity will instead strengthen you - but is highly addictive (All characters with Heresy at any rank will prefer to eat godflesh than other meals, and those with Heresy 3+ can only gain sustenance from the flesh of gods) and a great crime against the heavens. Points from Heresy generally cannot be used to buy backgrounds or virtues except in unusual circumstances (Being a heretic can get you in good graces with a heretic Mentor, for example)
x.......You have abstained from the delicious flesh of the gods - perhaps you respect them, or perhaps you simply have not discovered their wondrous taste.
o.......You have supped on local gods and are feared by them. Your name is known in Yu-Shan. You begin play with +3 freebies, but will not likely gain the cooperation of any spirit that knows of you.
oo......Your appetite for the gods is sated regularly on whatever unfortunate spirit draws your ire - you are a predator whose name is inscribed near the gates of Yu-Shan - no god of any standing will consort with you, and the Sidereals likely know of you and lust for your capture. You begin play with +5 freebies.
ooo.....You are a monster who stalks the spirit-paths - a hundred or more deities have died at your fangs, and your anima is shot through with strange colors, their weakened Essences roiling in torment as a part of your own. You are known to all the beings of Yu-Shan, and have likely made an enemy of most major deities - only the simplest and most withdrawn of spirits will not recognize and avoid you. You begin play with +7 freebies and must feed exclusively on the flesh of spirits.
oooo....You have likely stalked through Yu-Shan itself, a brutish monster whose predations are set in the very heavens. All gods know and fear you, and many Sidereals plot your downfall - you bein play with +11 freebies.
ooooo...You feed deeply on the flesh of virgin goddesses, and have crushed the bones of war-gods between your teeth. No god or Sidereal will offer you succor, and even the most debased of their kin will deal with you - your very bones are so shot-through with plundered Ambrosia that they are made of sturdy jade that lists the name of every god you have devoured. You begin player with +18 freebies and the undying enmity of most of Creation.

PLUNDER:
The Lunar lords of the edge of society do not deal in the simple currencies of the frail men of society. The concept of banks, or loans, of investment - these things simply lack meaning to most Lunars, who instead deal in what they can take - plunder from raided cities, the wampum of one's tribe, the tithe of conquered nations. This means that most Lunars are affluent, but lack stability in their funds.
x.......You collect no tithe and seize no plunder - you live on what meager scraps you can seize, or perhaps you hold the mundane job of a simple man?
o.......A handful of tribes offer you tribute, or a small region is yours to prey upon. Your plunder can be leveraged into a handful Resources 2 expenses over the course of a month, or a single Resources 3 transaction. A single Resources 4 transaction will force you to go through a slow streak - reducing your Plunder background by one until you can rebuild your coffers. You do not need to spend much time policing your territory - it is not broad or wealthy enough for most Lunars to covet.
oo......A dozen tribes give you tithes to stay your wrath, and trade routes in your region know better than to attempt to resist your agents - you may make a handful of Resources 3 expenses over the course of a month, or a single Resources 4 transaction. A single Resources 5 transaction will force you to go through a slow streak - reducing your Plunder background by one until you can rebuild your coffers. Your territory requires periodic policing and you can expect one or two challengers each year - including the Wyld Hunt, should they get word of your predations.
ooo.....A few dozen tribes give you tithes to stay your wrath, and are the bane of traders in your territory. You may make a handful of Resources 4 expenses over the course of a month, or a single Resources 5 transaction. Making an additional Resources 5 transaction will force you to go through a slow streak - reducing your Plunder background by one until you can rebuild your coffers. Your territory requires frequent policing and you can expect three to five challengers each year - you will likely be targetted by the Hunt if word of your deeds reaches the Realm.
oooo....Nearly a hundred tribes offer your tribute and the Guild itself cleaves to your demands on their caravans. You may make unlimited Resources 4 transactions and a handful of Resources 5 expenses over the course of a month. Your territory requires constant policing and you can expect six to ten challengers each year - Wyld Hunts run rampant over your territory when word of your location reaches them.
ooooo...A few hundred tribes offer your tribute and even caravans led by Dynasts would rather pay a toll than face your wrath. You may make unlimited Resources 5 transactions, and each month you may make a handful of transactions of legendary scale - buying large portions of a city or bribing your way into a high-profile political post. Your territory requires constant policing and you can expect a dozen or more challengers each year - the Wyld Hunt mobilizes at even the suggestion of your presence.

PORTENTS
Luna watches her children with interest, and by observing the way the world changers a Lunar can discern odd things. This Background represents the Lunar's training in divination techniques - while not as precise or as elegant as those of the Sidereals, Portents nonetheless offer a slight insight into the immediate future. Most portents are unbidden observations, but a Lunar who wishes to actively read them must observe a natural, organic pattern - the flight of birds, the flow of a waterfall, the placement of splattered entrails - for ten minutes. The Lunar may then roll Perception + Portents. For each success, the Lunar gets more information about the circumstances of the question he wishes to seek out.
For example, if Uka the Boar uses Portents to divine if his tribes will be attacked during the moth that he wishes to spend communing with nature and increasing his Essence, a single success will infer that, yes, danger is in the cards for his tribes. Three successes will tell him that it is a danger that they cannot handle alone, while five will identify it as a Lunar challenger to his throne who wishes to seize the tribes for herself.
x.......You do not know how to read the portents. Is your education incomplete or do you wish to forge your own fate?
o.......You receive portents roughly once a month, pointing towards vast events to come soon- the starts of wars, great plagues, or bouts of famine. Discerning these Portents is a Perception + Lore check, generally difficulty 3.
oo......You receive portents once a week, pointing towards sizable events to occur within the month - battles, crop failures, or outbreaks of minor diseases. You may predict the weather with roughly 50% success. Discerning these Portents is a Perception + Lore check, generally difficulty 2.
ooo.....You receive portents two to three days a week, pointing towards sizable events to occur within the month as under Portents 2. You may predict the weather with roughly 75% success. Discerning these Portents is a Perception + Lore check, generally difficulty 1. You also receive subtle warning of secretive events to happen within twenty-four hours - ambushes, betrayals, and secret meetings to conspire against you. Discerning these Portents is a Perception + Lore check, generally difficulty 4.
oooo....You receive portents once a day, pointing towards sizable events to occur within the month as under Portents 2, or minor events to occur within the week. You may predict the weather perfectly. You also receive subtle warning of secretive events to happen within the week - ambushes, betrayals, and secret meetings to conspire against you. Discerning these Portents is a Perception + Lore check, generally difficulty 3.
ooooo...Your vision dances with portents - no major event escapes your notice and you can expect a week's notice before sizable events. Minor events - a single crime or murder inside your tribe - can be discerened within three days. You may predict the weather perfectly for the entire season. You also receive subtle warning of secretive events to happen within the month - ambushes, betrayals, and secret meetings to conspire against you. Discerning these Portents is a Perception + Lore check, generally difficulty 2.<

SOCIETY
As under DariusSollumanLunarsRevised/Backgrounds, save that the background points cannot apply to Heart's Blood, Heresy, or Tell. Those things gained from this Background hinge on dealing with the Society as a member - should you betray the Silver Pact, they may re-seize the tribes your Plunder stems from, or come to claim the Artifacts they granted you.

TELL
Modified from DariusSollumanLunarsRevised/Backgrounds to account for the Transformation Charm and Shapechanger Combo system.
x.......You are one of the rare few with no distinguishing calling card across your Forms.
o.......You have a minor Tell, one difficult to notice even when it's pointed out. Spotting it requires an Awareness + Perception check, difficulty 7- 3 when your anima flares to 8+ motes, or when someone knows exactly what to look for. You gain +3 freebies at character creation which can only be used to gain Transformation Charms or Shapechanger Combos.
oo......Your Tell, while still subtle, is more obvious and apparent to learned and wise savants. Spotting it is difficulty 5, 1 when your anima flares to 8+ motes, or when someone knows what to look for. You gain +5 freebies at character creation which can only be used to gain Transformation Charms or Shapechanger Combos.
ooo.....Your Tell is obvious to anyone who knows to look- but the ignorant are still easy enough to fool. Spotting it is difficulty 3, and automatic when your anima flares to 8+ motes, or when someone knows what to look for. You gain +7 freebies at character creation which can only be used to gain Transformation Charms or Shapechanger Combos.
oooo....Your Tell is something shocking and vast, screaming out your nature to all but the dimmest of mortals- anyone will spot it with only a difficulty of 1, and still automatically if your anima flares beyond 8+ motes, or when someone knows wha to look for. You gain +11 freebies at character creation which can only be used to gain Transformation Charms or Shapechanger Combos.
ooooo...Your Tell is legendary among your kind- and anyone who has listened to their bedtimes stories as a child will know you at once as false, as a shapechanging spirit standing revealed. Iroincally, this very twist seems to enhance all other aspects of your protean nature- perhaps it was a dark blessing of the No Moons... or a Curse from Luna. You gain +15 freebies at character creation which can only be used to gain Transformation Charms or Shapechanger Combos.

TUTELAGE
The Lunar societies have preserved many bits of sorcery and lore from the First Age, and as such their elders offer the finest living history that links backwards. Young Lunars are thusly taught much of the battle-techniques of their peers and of the First Age, allowing them to identify sorcery and Charms of other Exalts. Note that knowing of a spell does not mean you know how to use it - for that, you must have the Sorcery background or take the spell as a Charm. This Background does not allow inference of the tricks of Abyssal or Alchemical Exalts - their powers are simply too new to be taught about.
x.......You know only of the Charms and sorceries that you have personally encountered - perhaps you have been judged unworthy of the lore of the First Age, or perhaps you have an incompetent teacher.
o.......You recognize most low-tier Lunar charms on sight, and the first Charms in the trees of other Exalts. You are familiar with most common Terrestrial spells and may take advantage of weaknesses you are aware of.
oo......You recognize all Lunar charms that are not custom works, as well as most low-tier charms of other Exalts. You know the tricks of the gods and the Fair Folk, and have knowledge of many of their Charms. Terrestrial Sorcery holds few secrets for you, and you know the lore of one to two Celestial circle spells.
ooo.....You can identify the standard Lunar charms by sight and know the prominent Shapechanger combos of older Lunars. You can infer from observation the effects and limitations of low-Essence custom Lunar charms. You know most of the tricks of your Exalt brethren. You know of many Celestial spells and every trick the Gods and demons lay claim to, you can recall.
oooo....You can identify the standard Lunar and Terrestrial charms by sight and know the minutia of Shapechanger combos used by most elder Lunars and many Lunars in your Society. You can infer from observation the effects and limitations of most custom Lunar charms. You know most of the tricks of the Celestial Exalts and can identify their low-Essence custom charms. You have even cobbled together a secret of your own - you begin play with a single bonus charm which must be early in a Charm cloud and must be a custom work, unique to your Lunar.
ooooo...You can identify the standard charms of all Exalts by sight and know the minutia of Shapechanger combos used by elder Lunars and most other prominent Lunars - for example, you can identify on sight the One Hundred and Eight Sublime God Bodies worn by the great Ma-Ha-Suchi. You can infer from observation the effects and limitations of most custom charms. You have horded a couple of your own secrets - you begin play with two bonus charms which must be early in a Charm cloud and must be custom works, unique to your Lunar.

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