Difference between revisions of "Miedvied/FutureExalted"

Latest revision as of 01:16, 6 April 2010

So, ....

This would be easier if the Alchemicals book were out.

Given: The Alchemicals have invaded Creation. Given: The DL's can be eradicated, though how is a rare secret. I won't be divulging it here.

They conquered - and later lost, to a small Solar-Lunar alliance - the South, but not before taking to the Realm. They currently lose-and-regain the Imperial City on an almost weekly basis, but they have a firm hold on Sion, Noble, Nishimo, the entire south- southeastern coast of the Blessed Isle, and have a firm line of defense across the mountains running north by northwest from Noble (though no defenses have yet been established across the mountains heading south, just east of Tuchara; this is the unofficial border of the end of Alchemical-controlled land.)

By RY 900 or so, the Realm has broken in three warring city-states; in the north lie the territories (the Heptagram, Bright Obelisk, Chanos, Pangu, and Juche) that have been taken control of by the Mnemon. They have lost the former tributaries of the Realm (such as Paragon) which rebelled after the Civil War erupted, but a surprising amount of Sidereals and elder Mnemon were in the Heptagram when war erupted, and the Ragara made a push to control those lands. Though they succeeded, they lost their old holdings.

They have a tenuous hold only on the Imperial City, which has been reduced to rubble in their constant wars against the Alchemicals that have infested it.

Much the same can be said for Juche, which is the spearhead of the contention between Mnemon's lands and the Shadowland of Stygia, which now occupies the Traiter, Portee, and Lord's Crossing. The Stygian shadowland is small, and only a fraction of the actual city of Stygia. These former cities have been decimated, and in their place now stand the sky-shredding ebon towers of Stygia, with dead wandering the streets and rice paddies decaying into rot. Though the Deathlords still vie for control with one another, there are only three remaining; the returned Solars have eradicated ten. (That's right; /ten/.)

The First and Forsaken Lion was tricked into believing that Princess Magnificent had fallen in love with him; and in fact, had then betrayed him to The Bishop. In reality, she /had/ fallen in love with him, but she had never betrayed him (nor, frankly, ever expressed her love to anyone but herself.) Still, by the time the Lion's rage ended, Magnificent was truly dead, and the Lion was actually heartbroken. The decievers - a group of Solars, that had come into something resembling the Lion's trust - used this time to harp upon his emotions, and he redeemed.

The Bishop, already having been at open war with the Lion, found himself being invaded by an army of barbarians led by the Lunar Exalt Bane of Black Boons, riding in twilight directly through the shadowland surrounding the Hidden Tabernacle. Though this battle did not defeat him, it destroyed massive portions of his citadel, eradicated his followers, weakened his forces, and in the end, left him as easy prey for the Solars that had taken control of the Lion's forces, who marched through the Underworld to conquer and vanquish the Bishop.

The Silver Prince is gone, as is the Skullstone Archipelago/Coral. Entirely gone. The Fae made a massive incursion in the west, attacking from every possible direction, and a massive wave of Wyld engulfed all of the Archipelagos. It flooded the shadowlands, and when night came, flooded into the Underworld as well. Striking one another like electricity to grounded line, the Wyld energy in the Underworld was instantly eradicated - as was the Shadowland and the surrounding land in the Underworld. There are no islands remaining in the west; nothing but Wyld lies there (or, in the case of the Underworld, pure void; even the Sea of Shadows empties into the space that was once Underworld and disappears. )

Lover Clad in Raiment of Tears still survives; she has withdrawn to her Citadel, and keeps an army of warrior-concubines, Abyssal Exalted, and a few Solar lovers about her at all times, to ensure her protection.

And it /is/ ensured, so long as she doesn't go out and attempt to make war with anyone. For the time being, at least; the circle that redeemed the Lion and slew the Bishop and arranged for the death of Princess Magnificent may make the Lover their next target, if she is seen trying to rally forces against them.

She is surviving deathlord #1.

Eye and Seven Despairs has disappeared entirely, and his forces have been taken control of by his three Abyssal servants. His new body - that of Star of Dirt and Doubt - has been found slain, though this is undoubtedly not Eye and 7 Despairs himself. His current where abouts are entirely unknown, and he is whispered about like a wraith in the night; everyone in the Underworld fears where he will appear next, to take his vengeance.

He is surviving DL #2. Whether or not he's /functioning/ ( he may well be captured in a massive yasal crystal that sheds tears of blood and liquor) is another question entirely.

Dowager of Irreverant Vulgate in Unrent Veils was lain low by a circle of Sidereals, a massive pack of Lunars (seven of them), and the sacrifice of an elder Sidereal. The elder lost his life tracking down the Dowager during one of her hunts, and casting upon her the nets of Neferuaten (Of Horrors Best Unknown charm) even as the Dowager parted the elder from what was left of his life. This netting, however, weakened the Dowager sufficiently that the remaining Sidereals - none of them neonates, be assued - and the Lunars could attack the Dowager and

Only one Lunar survived. The Dowager, temporarily made part of Fate, did not. That Lunar would be he who later goes on to die in the attack on the Bishop.

The specifics of the fate of Walker in Darkness are currently unknown. However, all of his Monstrances of Celestial Portion have erupted into bales of golden light, and those of his Abyssals that have fallen dead have resumed returning to Lytek. Some whisper this has been accomplished by the Gods in Great Forks. Some will whisper anything.

His massive armies have been claimed by his servant Shards of Basalt to Her Army, who has been extremely courteous towards the Gods of Great Forks (inspiring the rumors above.)

The Mask of Winters is survivor number three.

He has an extensive army in the Underworld, and has conquered several cities surrounding Thorns. A massive wall of ebon crystal has been built around the entirety of his territory in Creation; it is so dark that the sun's light raises it to well beyond the temperature at which water boils, and is so tall that clouds build up in banks against it, forming their own weather systems around the wall, and the areas around it.

The Mask of Winters has conquered Stygia and the rest of the Shadowland on the Blessed Isle, as well as having conquered massive swaths of land that once belonged to the Walker in Darkness.

Eagel's Launch, Eye of Creation, and the surrounding satraps are currently ruled by local bands of Small Gods, and a tiny band of Solars and Lunars attempting to forge a new Solar Deliberative, with attempts at diplomacy being made towards the Alchemicals and Ragara.

The Scavenger Lands have, for the most part, been reconquered by the Solars, though some areas have fallen to tribes of Lunars (and the Haltan and Linowan have been united as one tribe under the bloody banner of the lunar Seven Cities Stride; a civilized lunar and former wandering minstrel that is building a massive city-in-the-trees with adjoining allies on the ground. He is being guided in his efforts by local sidereal supervisors.)

It is currently RY 5020.

The Silver Pact has become more xenophobic and bent on destruction, though it's membership has shrunk; many Lunars have either courted the frontier semi-civilization in the Scavenger Lands, rejoining the Solars, or fully re-entered civilization in the Realm (where they are openly welcomed on the western coast, in Eagle's Launch and Eye of Creation.)

The Alchemicals have built up technology to an equivalent of the heighest realms of science fiction. Their satraps are domed cities (you'll see why later), they've conquered the Imperial City from the MoW and Ragara both (and enclosed it in another dome), and where their cities are open, massive essence-cannons stand ready to blast any aerial opponents. They have already built massive essence-fueled ships that can reach into Space; or, more specifically, can go beyond the upper strata of Creation and into Elsewhere, can travel through elsewhere all the way up to, around, and beyond Yu-Shan, and above it to the physical celestial bodies (which, if one attempts to land on them, are actually little more than the atoms of the molecules that make up the Celestial Incarna; and the Incarna will quickly shrink down to deal with the ships.) The only place these ships can't travel is through Shadowlands into the Underworld; their Essence batteries are miniscule, and function as little more than temporary storage as ambient essence is used to make the ships function; and there is no ambient essence in the underworld. Entering it will force the ship to land (or crash) within a handful of hours, and using its on-board weaponry will reduce that time drastically.

The concepts of magic-technology are very carefully kept secret by the Alchemicals, so that none can replicate it. However, this has not quite been successful; Solar savants have been able to reverse-engineer quite a bit (and invent some things on their own), and some people are Exalted from among the elite engineers of the alchemical city-states; and these Exalted, obviously, take their knowledge with them.

The only realm to rival the Alchemicals for technological advancement is the Underworld (and, thus, Mask of Winters.) Frankly, this is because it's in possession of all the knowledge of those members of the alchemical city-states that have died.

And many, many people die. You know, like, all of them.

They don't suffer the same essence regeneration problem in Creation that Alchemical ships do in the underworld. This is because the underworld ships function entirely on batteries instead of ambient energy. This, however, gives them massive essence batteries (that can be targeted to take them down), as well as giving them a much more limited amountof time in the air, and less energy with which to make their weapons function.

Alchemical built starships are, individually, usually the size of large troop carriers. They also have small scouting ships (comparable to the Fast Courier), and the occasional Mothership (stats to follow.) In any given situation, an alchemical built ship will usually have an advantage over non-alchemical starships by several points of tack, 2-3 points of speed, 1 point of maneuverability, require fewer crew members, and have an almost doubled soak rating. Not all of these benefits will be present in all ships - the Fast Courier will not have a double soak, for instance, but ought to have more maneuverability and more speed. Examples will follow.

Underworld ships are smaller than alchemical ships (to help conserve essence expenditures.) Most of their ships are harriers and scouts; they have few motherships, and *no* middle-sized ships (whereas middle-sized ships make up the vast bulk of the Alchemical space navy.)

The new Solar Deliberative (with lunar allies) possesses only a small space navy, and this consists of almost nothing but orbital motherships (which lack any ability to travel to attack other cities; their only purpose is to defend the cities below them from attacking ships from the MoW or the Alchemicals.)

Note: Magical ships have 2 sets of HL's. The first of these must be destroyed to destroy the ship. Upon being destroyed, the ship will lose the energy animating it, and will crash. More importantly, its reality bubble will disappear; killing all aboard if out in Elsewhere. The only way to take down the ship without killing all aboard is by targetting essence-thrusters, which are the 2nd set of HL's. In parenthesis, to the 2nd HL's, are the diff. penalties associated with targetting the thrusters.

Alchemical Fast Courier (Scout, Fast Attack Ship)

 Length: 17 feet 
 Beam: 10 ft 
 Draft: None. What waterline?
 Rig Type/Closest Tack: None. Uses thrusters.
 Speed: 6
 Maneuverability: -2
 Standard/Minimum Crew: 2/1
 Soak: 6L
 Health Levels: 14/3 (5)
 Thrusters: Rear-only.
 On-ship defenses: Two forward-hull mounted essence-lasers (miniature
 light implosion bows, that appear to be small laser canons. Acc +2, Dmg
 6B/6L, Rate 1, Range 250, Artifact 3 each, but are a 'given' on any such
 ship.)
 Take-off: Runway usually used, though vertical lift abilities can be
 added per pilot's request (and superior's approval.)

Think of a Star Wars Y-Wing.

Alchemical Warship (the bulk of their navy)</b>

 <b>Length: 600 ft.
 Beam: 100 ft.
 Levels: 10-15, depending on the ship, levels joined with floating tubes
 Speed: 3 (reduced by 1 when energy diverted to full shields, and an
 additional 1 on any turn when super-heavy weapons are used.)
 Maneuverability: -5 (same penalties as speed)
 Standard/Minimum Crew: 250/40
 Soak: 10L (energy diverted to shields raises this by an additional 10)
 Health Levels: 45/20 (3)
 Thrusters: Massive thrusters rear-mounted on the ships (usually in two
 large thruster banks on either side of the rear of the ship, much like
 the USS enterprise), with minor thrusters on the underbelly and on the
 forward of the ship, for slowing the ship, raising it, and reversing it.
 These minor thruster banks can be destroyed for 8HL's(diff.1), but do
 not crash the ship; they simply reduce the ship's maneuverability by an
 additional 1.

These ships are mounted with laser cannons equivalent to Lightening Ballista (elemental), roughly three spread out from front to rear on each port and starboard, on protruding firing banks. (Think of the laser cannon cockpit on the millenium falcon. I think that's the one, anyway. With the double-lasers.) A series of essence-lasers ( see the fast attack craft) are mounted on the under-belly of the ship (roughly 20, though each group of 4 is controlled by one crewman, and are fired with a single attack roll) to protect both the rear thrusters and the hangar (which can fit about 10 fast-attack ships.)

Any round on which the LB(Elemental) are fired, consider the ship as having fired a super-heavy weapon (giving maneuver and speed penalties), as well as giving a diff. penalty of 1 to all sailing and attack rolls using the ship's weapons as the ship's power sources temporarily falter.

These are often built in pieces, and their construction finished on a Mothership, where they can safely take off on a massive runway.

These ships often have under-belly hangars that can open to drop massive bombs on cities below them (and thus the domes on alchemical cities; to prevent the same from happening to them.) Few ships carry more than a dozen of these. Each bomb will erupted in a roughly 100 yard radius, causing 30L damage (fire), plus any damage from standing fire (these are napalm-like.) A Wits+Sail roll vs. diff 3 is neccasary to drop the bomb accurately; otherwise, it may be well over a hundred yards off (reduce diff. if the ship is sailing low to earth; but likewise make it easier for land-based defenders to attack them.)

Alchemical Mothership</b>

 <b>Length: 3 miles.
 Beam: 2 miles
 Levels: 300
 Speed: 1 at full thrust. Usually travels at half-of-one. Consider it's
 speed to be roughly 30 miles per hour on full thrust, and 15 at half.
 Maneuverability: -10
 Standard/Minimum Crew: 5,000/800
 Soak: 25L
 Health Levels:600 (one can puncture a hole large enough for a man to
 crawl into the ship after 10 HL's; for a fast-attack ship to fly in
 after 30 HL's, and for a massive swath of destruction after 50. Consider
 each 100 health levels to be roughly 1 square mile.) / 75 (1)

The mother ships are shaped like massive triremes, with a single thruster bank of almost one hundred thrusters in the rear,and another twenty on each port and starboard of the forward hull (15 HL's, diff 2 for each of the front groupings, to reduce maneuv by another 1 for both of their destruction.)

These are essentially small floating cities, with about five hangers on them, each hanger large enough to house both vertical landing zones and run strips, as well as dozens of warships and hundreds of fast attack craft, not to mention support and repair crew, essence rechargers, medical crews, and the occasional strip joint and bar.

Mothership hangars are protected by 5-batteries-of-4 laser canons, accompanied by 2 Lightening Ballista (common) at their entrances, with the occasional single laser canon spread throughout the hangers, to create an interwoven matrix of laser fire in case someone should attempt to infiltrate. There is not, however, any surveillance equipment.

Mothership runways often have two Lightening Ballista (common) straddling them.

Mothership forward hulls have five LB (elemental) on each port and starboard, with five dozen batteries-of-four laser canons accompanying them. (It is generally wise to attempt to attack motherships from behind and go straight for thrusters. However, while this destroys forward motion and engages a slow descent, the only way to force a fast crash is to finish the forward thruster banks; which are covered in the firing range of the many, many, batteries-of-four).

Underworld Fast Attack Craft</b>

 <b>Length: 14 feet
 Beam: 6 ft
 Speed: 7
 Maneuverability: -1
 Standard/Minimum Crew: 1
 Soak: 5L
 Health Levels: 12/3 (5)
 Thrusters: Rear-only.
 On-ship defenses: Two forward-hull mounted soulsteel shard canons.
 Acc+4, Dmg 3B/4L, Rate: 3, Range: 150, anyone struck by these massive
 clouds of soulsteel shards loses an amount of essence equal to damage
 sustained. Treat these as canvas-shredding arrows when attacking sails.
 When attacking ships, the target ship loses essence as does a person. In
 ships that use Essence-recycling, any turn in which they suffer an
 amount of damage equal to half or more of their soak rating suffer an
 essence short-out, and are considered 'stunned' (unable to act for the
 remainder of that round, and the following one; they *do* lose altitude
 during this time. They shouldn't, however, crash to the ground unless
 they've already explicitly been stated as flying low.)

Solar Mothership</b>

Same as Alchemical, save for half the speed, HL's of 550/60(1), and possessing of few (if any) hangars or runways. Rather, the Solar ships instead have many, many more essence-laser cannons mounted both top and bottom; these ships have 360-firing arcs, and exist solely to protect the cities below them.

<b>Weapon Availability:

PC's should have bullet-using weapons as well as lasers available to them. See my Exalted Cyberpunk post for bullet weapons. Laser weapons should follow the rules for implosion bows, lightening ballista, and other essence weapons we've already seen.

Charm Adjustments:

Use Sail charms for sailing, and adjusted firearms charms (see Cyberpunk Exalted) for lasers and bullet-using guns.

Charms that protect Exalts from the Wyld also protect them from Elsewhere, if they fall out of the protective Reality bubble of a ship.