ContestOfVirtue

Exalted and the Contest of Virtue

In the final days of the Primordial War the Exalted bargined with their defeated foe. In exchange for their continued existance the Ancient Creators swore to grant the Celestial Incarnae stewardship over every aspect of Creation, but the Gods did not want that responsibility. Instead, the Unconquered Sun said, give Creation to the Exalted, whose glory had earned them the right.

The Primordials still did not understand how the Exalted had defeated them but they saw in this order a chance to drive home the death curse of their slain brothers. Cleverly they argued that they could not simply 'give' Creation to the Exalted. It was not in their nature. But they would 'sell'it to them. If the Exalted wished to rule Creation, they would have to buy it with their very Will to power. Ruling would require more than wisdom, it would require hard work to preserve Creation - and the Primordials would not do it for them. The Exalted agreed, and the formalities quickly came to an end.

But as they were reshaped into their prison one last Primordial attack struck out at Creation, one Primordial sacrificing part of her very Essence to destroy all of Creation that she was able. The only parts of creation left undiminished were those protected by their mystical importance - including the terms of the treaty. The Exalted who had willingly accepted the bargin expecting to apply their favored Virtues found the entire concept rewritten around them, as those tools once holy were twisted beyond use or erased completely from Creation. From that day forth only one path remained and so Compassion, Conviction, Temnpereance and Valor became the foundation of righteous law.

Each virtue represents a single concept. Compassion - the health and purity of Creation and it's inhabitants. Conviction - the individual quest to accomplish one's dreams. Temperence - balance between competing forces internal and external to all things. Valor - rewarding duty and heroism with righteousness and glory.

Virtues are to be practiced, rewarded, and praised. They are not just artifical concepts, but rewarded by the metaphysics of Creation itself, techniques that ensure success and preserve the Mandate of Heaven.

The Conflict of Virtues system

Conflict of Virtues is intended to represent both social and spiritual challenges that face the Exalted. The basic principle is that instead of defending with Attribute + Ability, you instead resist with Willpower + Virtue + Essence. (If the creature has an Essence of 1, but is not supernatural, treat it as an Essence of 0.) This ensures that _every_ creature in Exalted has a decent pool to resist social and spiritual attacks without needing to buy into complicated charm trees or abilities. Characters who wish to resist powerful supernatural attacks have a choice between becoming more virtuous, or more powerful; it's assumed most won't bother with both.

Attacks against a character's Virtues are normal Attribute + Ability rolls. Attack rolls can be supplemented or replaced with charms as normal. Both attack and defense rolls require an action to perform - however, the defense roll can be made at 'any' point the character choses - there is no charm or magic that can prevent them from doing so. This encourages characters to stunt defending against an attack, and also allows them to split their actions in later turns to shake off mental influence if they did not have a chance to do it the turn they were attacked. Most importantly, it allows a character to go along with a reasonable request without requireing them to defend against it.

Non-charm social attacks normally have a simple goal. The attacker describes what he hopes to gain: safe passage through an area, a promise of aid in troops, or to cause an emotional response. The defending Virtue is chosen as the principle that would be harmed if the attacker won. Virtue if it is the defender's duty to prevent any from entering the area. Conviction to avoid an action that would distract from one's own goals. Temperence to remain calm and in control of one's facilities. Often it will depend very much on the situation. For instance, Compassion might also defend against a plea for aid in troops, if those troops are to be used to slaughter innocent lives. The ST must consider the situation and his decision is final, though encouraging the defender to choose is encouraged.

If a character fails a non-charm social attack, he may spend a Virtue Channel to ignore it.

Charms can be written to support this system. Attack charms work as normal. Defense charms generally do not exist, but attack charms will often collide and attack charms will often contain keywords that can be defended against. Take for instance, a charm that allows a character to tell an undetectable lie, vs one that allows a character to know if a character is speaking the truth. In such a case, both charms are canceled out and roll as normal. The attacking charm is the one that provides information. The defending charm is the one that conceals it. If the attacker and defender is not obvious to the ST and there is a dispute, both characters roll relevant Attributes + Abilities as if testing for initative: the winner decides who the attacker and who the defender is.

Charm Design Guidelines:

Some easy guidelines will assist in making charms for this system.

• Don't create perfect charms unless you also follow one of the three following rules,

- Create charms in pairs that will cancel each other out.
- Give it a keyword to make it vulnerable to non-social magical defenses.
- The charm is ineffective against characters with high Willpower + Virtue + Essence

• Defense charms shouldn't be specific to Social effects. Instead they should defend against a certain kind of magic. A good example is a Mind Shield keyworld - it protects against anything that will alter your mind. This includes everything from mind control to memory alteration.

• Contest charms should only be in effect for the Duration during which the Essence is committed. If an Instant charm is going to have a lingering effect, it cannot be enforced by the charm.

• All charms effects must eventually allow for a roll to defend against them, even Perfect effects. This must be 'time based', even if the charm also has another way of defeating it. How often the roll is allowed factors into the power of the charm. It may allow a defense roll anywhere from once a turn to once a year. If the charm has an extreme effect it has to allow the player to trigger a roll on demand by spending a Virtue Channel.