Discussions/MusicOfCreation

The Music of Creation

I don't know if I'm putting this up in the right section, but Discussions seemed as good a place as any. This is something that I've been finding myself curious about lately. I've seen plenty of forum threads and even a topic here on the wiki that ask "What music inspires you for Exalted?" I don't think I've ever seen one on the actual music of Creation itself though.

Music is, generally speaking, one of the most prevalent pieces of cultural flotsam we as humans produce. Almost every culture and almost every generation of those cultures produces their own variety of it. Music often reflects not just the culture, but the outlook of the generation that created it. It is not merely a form of entertainment, but of cultural expression. While much of it is considered "outdated" by the time of the next generation, though we do get the rare "classics" that somehow hold a universal appeal. You can learn a lot about a place by studying the music it produces.

We don't see much in the Exalted books, splat or supplemental, that talks about music in Creation. Maybe the authors simply never thought about it or maybe they left it open for the players to fill in themselves. Either way, it's largely an empty slate. So, dear ExWiki, I ask you: what sort of music do the residents of your Creation listen to? Does it vary from region to region? Culture to culture? Generation to generation? Are there any "big movements" in it? Radical changes that the young embrace while the old scorn?

The Exalted have a huge impact upon all other aspects of the world, so what impact have they had upon musical expression? Is your Creation full of orichalcum electric guitars and magi-tech synthesizers or is wood, cat-gut, and horse-glue still the prevalent tools of making a fine instrument? - Greymane

One would theorize that a mixture of both would seem to logically be derived from canonical material. If there are First Age daiklaves, why not First Age drum sets? Artifact drum sets, obviously, but the point stands. The pharoahs were not just buried with the stuff they used to kill stuff. They had slaves and boats and board games and things like that. Logically, some of the magical devices would survive. And of course, there are enough occult-minded individuals in Creation that somebody would think of replicating one of them or building something like it. Combat Fife & Drum Corps of the Realm, anyone? Also, we did a Hearthstone Relay theme on hip-hop, which I thought was cool. Mostly because everything I touch turns awesome, and I did a stone for it. Not the point. Where there is magic there will be magical music. Where there is not there will not be any. Logic. - Han'ya