RedeemingCreation

Alright. So, let's start from the basic assumption that the Exalted are flawed. Regardless of whether you lay the blame at their feet, or the (metaphorical) feet of the Primordials that laid the GreatCurse upon them, it seems hard to argue against the setting's default assumption: namely, that the main factions will fight until it all comes crashing down around them in the form of the Yozi-Malfean-Fae-Alchemical Quadruple Threat. And even if you prefer to believe that the Solars can keep that from happening (and I do, believe me) there's still the GreatCurse hanging over their heads as well, casting serious doubt on their ability to prevent another era of pre-Usurpation-level atrocities.

So, it seems to me that the only way to save Creation is to hand it over to the mortals.

The problem, as I see it, is as GCG said - the First Age mortals were content to enjoy their utopian MagiTek society, built on the achievements of a few hundred ubermenschen. When those few went bat-shit insane as the Vice-President's wife, everything collapsed, because how on Creation were Joe and Jane Average supposed to run the Most Auspicious Essence Reactor of Day's Waning that powered the Western Seaboard?

Yes, the Exalted are, at their cores, mortals, except a thousand-fold moreso. And that is precisely the problem. Certainly, humans are every bit as prone to the passions and weaknesses of the Exalted - the difference is the comparative weakness of even the most powerful mortal, not to mention the vastly-larger scale a Celestial Exalted operates on. A 'Wolf of Qin'-type ruler can always be assassinated, or, worst-case scenario, takes a couple decades to age, wither, and die. By comparison, a corrupt Solar god-king requires a conspiracy ranging from the very heights of the CelestialBureacracy all the way down to the Solar's most trusted assistants and bodyguards in order to topple him. And while we've certainly seen plenty of horrible atrocities perpetrated by just regular old mortals, the GreatCurse has the unfortunate property of concentrating mental unbalance in the people most able to affect massive changes in Creation.

Mortals are forced to find strength in numbers. That's a self-regulation (to a degree) that Celestial Exalted are largely exempt from.

Concentrating power in the hands of the few is a property of a.) the practice of Exaltation, and b.) the nature of Sorcery in Creation. Certainly, thaumaturgy works for everyone, but thaumaturgy is parlor tricks compared to the power of true Essence manipulation - the sort of magicks that built impossible edifices and harnessed the weather. I say, to be free of the yoke of rule by Exalted, mortals must have access to a power that anyone can create and utilize. The mortals need science.

Certainly, even if they had technology on par with our own modern weapons, guns and explosives would be a poor match for the FairFolk, or Behemoths. The Exalted have their place in Creation, but it is not as rulers - if anyone can realize that truth from inside a world that has seen them as kings and emperors since their creation. The only way I can foresee a happy end for the people of Creation is for the Solars to do what they were designed to do. They must unite the fractious Exalted and lead them against the enemies of Creation, as warriors, conquerors, unifiers.

The crucial step comes afterward - if humanity can't be allowed to rule itself, mortals leading mortals, and care for itself, mortal technology helping mortals, the Exalted will fall again. And the cycle will continue.

See also: Power That Wants To Be Used by Gamlain

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