Latest revision as of 01:17, 6 April 2010

History of the Dragon-Graced

Born of a player's dream that a Dragon-Blooded might one day be able to equal a Celestial of the same experience, the true form of the Exalted of the Elemental Dragons is herein revealed.

"The Immaculate Order teaches that the Terrestrial Exalted are spiritually advanced beings, halfway between mortality and the perfection of the Elemental Dragons. In truth, it is simply a matter of heredity."

   ~~Exalted Core Book, page 26

What is this heredity traced back to? Does it come directly from the Elemental Dragons? No, I say. It is traced back to the Dragon-Graced, the Celestial exalts of the Elemental Dragons.

Long ago, when the gods and Autochthon were creating the shards of the Exalted, Autochthon ran tests to see how the shards would effect the progeny of the Exalted. Through these tests were the half-castes discovered. The Elemental Dragons had not yet made their Exalted, but they saw the need for a vast number of soldiers to be created using only the very limited number of shards that the gods could make. From this need was born the Dragon-Graced, Exalted designed to provide the maximum leakage of power to their progeny. There were only 5 of these exalted shards, one from each of the Elemental Dragons. The Dragon-Graced would produce a half-caste every time they reproduced. What are known in the Second Age as the Dragon-Blooded are in fact the half-castes of the Dragon-Graced. The half-castes of the Dragon-Blooded are mere quarter-castes of the Dragon-Graced. These Exalted allowed the Elemental Dragons to field huge armies of Dragon-Blooded while using as little of their power as possible in the creation of their Celestial shards. The other great strength of the Dragon-Graced was their ability to reincarnate very quickly, provided that the Elemental Dragon that made the shard could personally place the shard in the next incarnation. This ensured the Dragons a continuous presence in Creation with rare maintenance that could satisfy the expectations of an elemental god, or so they thought.

During the war against the Primordials, the Dragon-Graced served as heroes for the Dragon-Blooded, leading the great hordes of Terrestrials by example, even unto death. The Dragon-Graced would often be reincarnated into another soul by the time of the next great battle. Once the Primordials were defeated, the Dragon-Graced were put in charge of their respective regional spirit courts, with the authority to use martial law to bring unruly spirits to heel. Thus, the Dragon-Graced found their place in the order of the Old Realm, and all was well.

Then came the advent of the Great Curse and the Sidereal's Usurpation. The Dragon-Graced were driven to maniacal service of their element by the force of their Curse. They would often create tidal waves, earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions and fissures, glaciers that would move across the land 100 yards in a day, and beasts of horrendous size while in the throes of their curse. During the Usurpation, the Sidereals convinced the Dragon-Blooded that the Celestials(except for the Sidereals, of course) needed to be sealed away for the good of Creation. The Dragon-Graced were hunted down along with the Solars, and all but the Graced of Earth were quickly isolated and killed. The Graced of Earth saw the Usurpation coming and had made the Imperial Mountain into his personal fortress in preparation for the impending assault. But, such was the preparation of the Graced of Earth that he was never actually attacked. He kept sending out loyal Dragon-Blooded to strengthen the defenses of the Blessed Isle and strengthening his own defenses until the Sidereals decided to simply wait out the Graced of Earth. This is where much of the first age architecture left on the Blessed Isle comes from.

The Dragon-Graced would have recovered from this treachery if not for the combined efforts of the spirt courts and the Sidereals. The spirit courts had grown tired of being ruled by non-spirits, and the Sidereals conspired with them to pull so many strings in the Celestial Beauracracy that the Elemental Dragons would never recieve word of the deaths of their Exalted.

The power of the Dragon-Blooded has waned in the absence of the Dragon-Graced. The Dragon-Blooded used to be free to breed with whoever they wanted. Now, they must use breeding programs to ensure that their blood is not diluted further. It is only a matter of time before the Dragon-Blooded become too inbred to function as heroes or are forced to dilute their blood still further. The Bronze Faction will not be able to hide behind the Dragon-Blooded for much longer. The remaining Solars, Lunars, and Gold Faction Sidereals cannot protect all of Creation on their own.

But, just as the Unconquered Sun no longer turns his back on his Exalted, the Elemental Dragons are no longer idle. The spirit courts of the five poles shall have their rightful leaders reinstated! The Dragon-Blooded will not be led by an absent Empress and a religion that denies and supresses their true heritage! The Dragon-Graced shall return!

Author: Qzujak49

Character Creation

Use a Dragon-Blooded sheet for this. Pick a Dragon-Blooded style aspect. Now pick an additional 3 aspect Abilities from the following: Martial Arts, Lore, Beauracracy, Prescence, and Medicine(the Ability covered by the aspect you chose at the start cannot be chosen)(you'll want to mark these as aspect Abilities). The one set of Abilities that you do not have an aspect Ability in is your set of Abilities on which you pay an out-of-aspect surcharge for charms. Now choose 2 additional favored Abilities from any Ability you have not chosen so far.

Charm Guidelines

Dragongraced have reflexive mastery.

Dice adders work the same as Dragonblooded dice adders. 2 dice per mote spent up to a limit of Ability + Specialty.

Dragongraced get reflexive reroll charms that let them reroll actions up to a number of times equal to their Essence score, adding the successes from each roll together. These charms cost 2 motes per use. These charms can be combined with die adder charms, but the die adders must be paid for on every reroll that the additional dice are added. (This replaces perfect attacks.)

Dragongraced get reflexive reroll charms that let them reroll a number of dice equal to those that did not succeed on the first roll, adding the successes from the two rolls together. These charms cost 1 mote per use. This replaces autosuccess charms. These charms may be combined with die adders without paying for the die adders again on the reroll. These charms may not be combined with the other type of die adder discussed in the above paragraph. (This replaces the autosuccess charms of Solars.)

Comments

If I only had access to the Dragon-Blooded hardcover, I could figure out how to make the character creation work near the Solar's power level with a Dragon-Blooded feel. The only thing I can compare the DG to right now is the Solars. All I've done so far is give them the same number of Favored\Aspect\Caste abilities as the Solars but with less choice. I don't know how many Attribute points or other stuff I should give them. -Qzujak49

The flavour text seems more jacked up than what I would reasonably infer from your stated goal. I mean, it takes Essence 4 to start actually making Half-Castes unless you're near a manse and such, right? Looking at the way Elementals never really die would be a better way to look at the Dragon-Blooded's hereditary power. Making them more like Celestials blunts their Elemental character, imo (i.e. Celestial Exalts are more like gods, while Terrestrials are more like Elementals). But that is all opinion based stuff . . . not interesting or helpful to you. Sufficed to say I don't like the idea.

Please sign your comment. -Qzujak49

Since you want them Solar-powered, give them as much or more Attribute points. Give them perfects (and not the "almost" perfects of Sidereals and Lunars) and scene long effects. Jack up their access to Sorcerery and Necromancy from the first circles to whatever your heart desires. Really, in order to get what you want, all you need is to give a bunch of Solars juiced up elemental animas and Aspect markings. Look at the character for a Solar Anima flare, and replace the Caste Mark and Anima banner stuff with doing heavy environmental damage based on the anima (e.g. 1 Bashing per turn at the first mark, 2 Bashing at the next, then 1L, etc.). It'd get what you want done fine and dandy. ~Andrew02

Intersting idea. I wouldn't make them as powerful as Solars, mainly because, well Solars with Reflexive mastery would be, well, very, very nasty. I do like the way they favor all but one element. I.e. they are more 'all elements' than one. But they are still tied to one, as there is one they don't favor. Honestly, I'd call them low end Celestial level for the most part. Just give them the standard 3 favored abilites. I'd give them Solar size essence pools and possibly reduce their charm costs a bit. This, combined with thier standard charms and Reflexive mastery would create exalts that would probalby be the most powerfull starting(Reflexive mastery again), and probably solidly celestial level in the long run. You could also have them created by Gaia, rather than the Dragons, this would put them at the Alchemical level at probably. Just some thoughts. --FlowsLikeBits

How about, they get a -1 mote cost bonus for charms of their Aspect? -- Xarak