DarkheartOne/RFAlterations

Setting Variances and Houserules

Creation

• The Empress has not vanished. The Realm is strong, but still held somewhat in check by the Guild. The combined might of the unbroken Legion and the Immaculate Order is enough to take their fight mainly to the Fair Folk, barbarian raiders and militant heretics. There has been squabbling, however, amongst the Dynasts as rumors of the Empress seeking a successor have begun in earnest.

• The Gold Faction does not exist save as a bandied-about theory. Ayesha Ura is the youngest member of the Chejop's Bronze Inner Circle, and is also very much his lover. She retains her strong feelings towards the Sunchildren, but has chosen to work with her elder, especially in this trying time.

• Lilith is dead, and her Exalted essence obliterated. The Lunars themselves have taken considerable losses, pressed between the Fair Folk and the Legion. Their numbers are unknown, but they are far less than before the Empress rose to power.

• The Jade Prison was only mildly damaged; twenty Essences escaped and only *ten* Solars have been reborn. The PCs are five of those ten. There are still-extant First Age Solars wandering about Creation, but their true number is unknown. Understandably, almost all Big-Name 'new' Solars in the books simply do not exist, although the Canon Solar Five do... in a way.

• The Underworld is built from the bodies of the Malfeans' (Once-Were) collective souls, and watered with their black, oily tears. The land is a realm of death, menaced by the ghost-king Deathlords, but the Malfeans and their chosen warriors, imbued with Exalted essences they themselves crafted, have a different goal in mind...

• Malfeas, the realm of the Yozi, exists 'outside' of the Underworld. Much in the same way shadowlands bridge the gap from Underworld to Creation, strange pockets of hellish Essence create bridges from Hell to the Deathlands. Terrible, terrible things sometimes come through... and with the Yozis having been cheated by the Once-Were, the cries for war have already begun.

• Autochthon's role in Rising Force has not been completely cemented.

The Players

• All PCs will have a very, very strong connection to (and memories of) their past life, and may access this information from time to time in matters where it would come in handy, not unlike a built-in (and fluctuating) Past Lives merit or Savant rating. It should also be noted that these past people know one another, as they were in a tightly-knit Perfect Circle themselves. This should make for interesting revelations (and player interaction to determine how the group functioned is highly encouraged).

• Incidentally, the characters may, in times of stress and duress, 'fall back' into their old ways, faintly echoing their old demeanors. This is not unlike Throwback, only one assumes a dual Nature (old and new; the player must determine the Nature of their past self, and it cannot be the same as their 'new' Nature) that can make things interesting, but not detrimental. This is purely an aspect of roleplay; I will not be enforcing this with dice and dots.

• The Great Curse is also purely a roleplayed aspect that comes forth in times of great tragedy, danger and moments where the players' emotions are strained. The Chosen of the Sun are passion incarnate, and their emotions waver from unconquerable joy to bleak depression to cold-blooded fury and back; while it was easy for them to shove the curse aside on the battlefield, these extremes made them odd leaders, and the self-righteous Sidereals saw fit to push them aside rather than go through the trouble of trying to steer them in the right way, opting instead to work with the weaker, yet more stable Dragon-Blooded.

As a rule of thumb; situations that a Solar may find exhilirating, terrible, or sorrowful tend to (but not always) drag them along for the ride; an aroused Solar can become a god of the sheets, a furious Solar can become the very Hand of Death, and a morose Solar could drag a city into darkness with his angst. It can be resisted and even fought off if it takes hold, with self-control and the help of friends... but resisting the Curse is not easy. This decision I leave to the PCs. As above, no dice, no dots.

Assorted Houserules

• The Sol Invictus supplement is in full effect, as is Power Combat.

• The 'Finish Him!' rule is in effect; anyone sustaining lethal damage past Incapacitated is left there, although a final blow will finish them off. Mostly there for fairness and dramatic purposes. Just because you're at Incap doesn't mean you can't make a sexyawesome speech while blood squirts out of your gaping wounds! Not applicable to extras and when dramatically inappropriate.

• All ranged weapons have a speed bonus equal to the user's permanent Essence rating.

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