Mnemosynis/MonkeyExalts

New Exalted types! They're all the rage! A work in progress, and not a serious work at that. An idea spawned by boredom.

Introduction

In the time of the First Age the Sidereal Exalted were more numerous. Now their numbers have dwindled to a mere hundred and yet no one has bothered to ask where the other shards have gone. The answer is to the most unlikely of places. The trickster monkey god of the West, Kojobamarimbo desired Exalted servants of his own. Knowing that merely asking for shards would get him laughed out of Yu-Shan for being so presumtuous, he set about formulating a plan to take some for his own. He knew the Unconquered Sun's nature was perfection that he would see through any disguise. He knew that Luna's protean nature of infinite possibilities would flow through his deceptions. He then turned to the Maidens.

He went before them, disguised as that which their nature could not comprehend. He went before the Maiden of Battles as the ultimate paragon of peace and she could not comprehend him, and so he stole from her. He went before the Maiden of Endings as the expression of birth and new life and she could not see him, and so he stole from her. He presented himself before Jupiter as a merchant of knowledge and confused her, so her stole from her. He came to Mercury representing the hearth and the contentment of a life spent at home, and so he stole from her as well. Finally he came before Venus as the spirit of unconsolable grief and lonliness, confounding her every attempt to bring joy unto him, and he stole from her. Also, due to a prank pulled on Lytek, his Exalts would remain secret, the proper files buried under miles of bureaucratic tape.

With his shards he fled into the West to his island sanctum. There he tinkered with them through the First Age and the Usurpation trying to learn the secrets of changing the shards. He tinkered through the Dragon-Blooded Shogunate, the Great Contagion, and the Fae invasion. Finally, mere years into the reign of the Scarlet Empress his tinkering was complete. While he could not alter them with the fine manipulation the Incana could, he could alter them enough to be his own. Crudely he shaped the shards until at last he had formed them into four general castes.

In his tinkering though, the shards were damaged, and would not be able to seek hosts on thier own. Kojobamarimbo would have to chose his Exalts by hand and bring them to his sanctum to Exalt them. He dicided also that those he chose would all be children, for thier curious and impulsive way were more suited to the Monkey Exaltation than adults were, and their minds are unclouded by the cynisism of age. He used his extensive contacts with the gods through the West to find these children. Any child who became lost on the waves was swiftly taken by guided currents and found himself on the shores of the island sanctum. There Kombotarojirikijin would Exalt them and the them go back out into the West to do as they see fit. He preferred that they stay in the West so that they could always be close to him and so that they would visit him often. Most do so being naturally from the West themselves, but there are wayward children. Kojobamarimbo doesn't mind this. Being a monkey himself he is often suprised as many listen to him as they do.

Kojobamarimbo's island sanctum is open to all of his children, and indeed all who happen upon the island. Inside his sanctum any may rest and relax for three days and nights freely so long as they do not steal and do no violence. Those who tell interesting tales or do well against Kojobamarimbo is games of strategy or wits are often invited to stay longer. Some mortals have been there for years. Also within his sanctum there is a great parady of the Games of Divinty, though it is mostly constructed of coconut shells. Any may challenge the Monkey King at these mock games, though the stakes are slightly higher. Those who fail to best the Monkey King are geased to silently serve him and his guests for a year and a day in any desired role from waiter to concubine. Those who best him are rewarded a great boon, though afterwards he turns down any future challenges from that individual.

The Monkey Exalted

The monkey children roam the West, and are thought by many to be the ghosts of those young ones lost at sea come back from beyond the grave. It is generally considered unlucky to see one, and any streaks of odd luck in a village are often attributed to their presense, whether it actually was them or not.

The Monkey Exalts all start off as 12-year-olds, and use the starting guidelines for children found in the Dragon-Blooded book. However, they also receive an additional dot of both dexterity and wits for no cost.

They begin play with 5 charms. Their charms are ability-based, and (because of their shards' former status as Sidereal shards) tend to have some fate aspect to them. While the Monkey Exalted cannot work astrology themselves, they receive 2 extra dice to read the stars through Astrology. Oddly enough, their connection to the Sidereals also grants them an affinity for Martial Arts. The may receive the Blossoming of the Perfected Lotus, though such an occurance is highly unlikely. Each caste has two favored attributes, and players select another of their choice at character creation.

They calculate their Essence as Sidereals do. Though they only start with an Essence of one.

The Monkey Exalted has no associated Magical Material, though many of the prefer Moonsilver to easily masquerade as Lunars.

There are four catses of Monkey Exalts.

Bahajara - The Wise Monkeys.
Kokorambo - The Warrior Monkeys.
Hombojar - The Dancing Monkeys.
Rakarana - The Clever Monkeys.

They have caste marks that look like two or three of the Sidereal castemarks blended together, and their anima colors are a blend of the colors of the castemarks they have. This means that no two Monkey animas are alike, yet all tend to be very colorful.

Comments

You know how much I adore this concept. I want to play a Monkey Exalt! --dissolvegirl

Darloth waits for more information on the caste abilities and charms... Hmm... Are you writing a fat (or maybe thin) splat for these? ^_^

some chimps in jack boots....sorry love bare naked ladies. But anywho I love this idea please give more wanna play a Monkey too.In the time of Chimpanzees I was a Monkey sorry again. *hangs head in shame* - Issaru

What sort of charms do they use? The barebone sidereal charms or do they have their own personal charms? With sidereal limitations?
~ Haku