Taichara/ShadowDragons

The Shadow-Dragons

A random if intriguing thought; if bred, born and raised in a shadowland, what might happen to Dragonblooded over the generations? Better yet, could the Deathlords deliberately affect the outcome of such a bloodline?

Such death-twisted Terrestrial Exalts may well reflect the Elements of the Underworld, rather than those of the living world. They could find themselves serving as the lieutenants and elite warriors of the Abyssals as their brethren once did the Solars ..

This is, like much of my jottings on the wiki, very much a work in progress. We'll see what else manages to develop in regards to these critters  ;)

Blood (Water)

Sobriquets: Whispered Courtiers, Hydras
Associations: the corpse-element of blood, the colors crimson and black-red, Nebthys, the new moon, the West direction, spring
"All things are embraced by life and death; surely, then, some agreement may be found between us ...?"

Bone (Wood)

Sobriquets: Silent Wardens, Lindwurms
Associations: the corpse-element of bone, the colors ivory and pale horn, Eset, the gibbous moon, the East direction, winter
"We have suffered your presence long enough. Leave, or be reduced to nothing."

Ghost-Flame (Fire)

Sobriquets: Frenzied Knives, Basilisks / Sirrush
Associations: the corpse-element of ghost-flame, the colors ice-green and green-gold, Usine, the half-moon, the South direction, summer
"Come, little one, and dance in the fire ..."

Jade (Earth)

Sobriquets: Hollow Kings, Terrasques
Associations: the corpse-element of jade, the colors of jade, the Dual Monarchy, the full moon, the Centre direction, Calibration
"May you serve better in death, than you have in life"

Prayer (Air)

Sobriquets: Phantom Savants, Amphipteres
Associations: the corpse-element of prayer, the colors ice-blue and ash-grey, Setesh, the crescent moon, the North direction, autumn
"Knowledge -- like breath -- is the sweetest thing to lure from the unworthy."

• Shadow-dragons would no doubt regain Essence in Creation much like Abyssals, and suffer the same penalities when in direct sunlight.

• Possibly these Terrestrial Exalts, while capable of growing fangs for Essence-draining from living beings, must consume flesh rather than drink blood? (Possibly higher-Essence Exalts would learn blood-drinking ..)

Comments

Ooh, intriguing! The blood of the Terrestrials is open to all sorts of strange alterations...
How do you see "Shadow Dragon" society? Do they serve a particular interest?
It seems as well that this is another place to play off the weakness-of-blood-as-a-strength element, in that they may very well be more able than Abyssals to move through and operate within creation, being only half-posessed by the underworld and, even to that extent, 'merely' through blood.
Perhaps they need communion with or the 'trappings' of their underworld element as the Abyssals need black lipstick and fishnet shirts?
I'm interested in seeing where you plan to go with this...
~ WillCoon

I'm contemplating something along those lines (connection to the Underworld elements); on the other hand, it mght be an interesting quirk if they don't have that kind of need, because their Underworld affiliation is already internalized. I haven't made up my mind yet ...

No doubt the "shadow dragons" (I'm hoping to come up with a better name eventually, but I needed something ..) will develop a society of their own in time; but I'm seeing them at the moment as a new phenomenon, and like all new things need time to evolve. Some Dragonblooded tendencies will probably bleed through, though.

Of course, if their genesis is influenced by, say, a Deathlord, than all bets are off, yes ..? ^_- -- Taichara

Hehehe... to be honest, I've been using Shadow Dragons in my Abyssal-heavy campaign already. I was treating them like the "Friends of the Dark" in the Wheel of Time series. Hadn't really given them any alternate powers though, just loyalties to the Malfeans instead of the Dynasty (working to bring it down from the inside, of course). This adds a quite interesting twist to that... *rubshandsandcacklesmaniacally* ... thank you for this =) ~ BrigandRansom

Ye're quite welcome ^_^ -- Taichara

Oh, but the ideas for alternate-charmtrees are just so perfect. I think it would be wrong not to develop some...
-- Darloth seems to like all of Taichara's ideas recently... but they're all so good!

Yes, they are. Especially while I'm having ideas for corrupting Lunar Essence. The Bloodmoons could do with some plebs to order round :) -- Somori

Should I tinker more with these, or with the alternate-element system, do you think? *is leaning towards shadow-dragons atm*

And thank ye very kindly for the good words ^_^ -- Taichara

On a side-tangent, why is it that there is continual development of "tainted" this and "dark" that across the Exalted fanbase? I mean, as a huge fan of the Solars, I find it quite frightening that it seems that almost everything that can be corrupted will be, and that there's an almost never-ending stream of "this tainted thing is better than or equal to it's non-tainted counterpart, because taking the evil road is more powerful, but with meaner bosses". Is it because coming up with a anti-tainted Solar is tough? (A super-Solar? Laughable, I know) I just feel bad for the few good Solars and like the one Sidereal that isn't secretly working for (the Yozis:the Malfeans:his own evil ends). The setting, as originally proposed, seemed to have just enough evil to go around, and still seem like the good guys can win. As the fanonical stuff expands, I get more and more worried that there's no way for 'good' to triumph, given the huge explosion of non-good things. Even more worrisome, it's a general given that a 'simple' lick, spit, and polish will turn a Solar, a champion of Creation, into a nasty servant goth person. Want to turn that nasty goth person into a champion of Creation? Nah, can't do it, takes lifetimes of resisting the Malfeans and your Deathlord. What is it with all this tainting and evil going on, and the general consensus that it is in some way more powerful, and harder to convert from than to? - GregLink

I never said that I think this Exalt variant would be more powerful; nor do I see them as especially "tainted", seeing as the Underworld itself is just that -- the Underworld. The dead things have as much lace as the living things, after all. The shadowdragons would also let me tinker around with more Kuei-jin-like elements without completely bstardizing the Dragonblooded themselves ... not that I'm not considering reworking a fewelements from that milieu.

The Shadowdragons aren't any more inherently "bad" than the Dragonblooded themselves. No more than a ghost in Exalted is necessarily bad right from the start.

It sounds to me like you've had some bad experiences with the way people play / percieve Solars. *emphatic nod* Me, I rather like the character of Admiral Sand, and I don't even generally mess around with Solars much. (This is a DB-centric idea, for example). So I suppose it's not surprising that a self-avowed huge fan of the Solars might feel a little put out by all this; me, I prefer writing up Dynasts who are reasonably decent souls, but everyone has their own preferences, yes?

The baseline assumption of Exalted is, in fact, that Creation is all going to go to hell. The great thing is, we have the option to just ignore that little bit at the beginning of the Big White Book, if we want to.

Me, I just want to play with the funny elements  ;) -- Taichara

To answer your first part, I'll just say that I'm planning the Bloodmoon idea out as a dastardly plot for my Solar PCs to stop. It's a big show of how much the nasty servant goth boys (and girls) are willing to screw up the world to make sure they win. Unless the PCs really screw up, it's unlikely there will ever be more than a handful.

My idea came more from thinking about the metaphysics anyway, the fact that the Lunars can change the way their essence behaves is mighty interesting. In fact, the mutability of the Lunar essence means that it should be easier (in theory of course) to taint them than Solars. Anyway, back to this page, it seems Taichara has taken a similar stance to me. What would happen if...

Exactly, though I don't see it as a taint so much as a mutation of the bloodlines. They haven't been exposed to "normal" elements, so what happens to the Terrestrial affinities over time ..? Things like that.

Wait til I get started on what might happen to Dragonblooded lineages in Autochthon *grins* -- Taichara

I think it mostly has to do with the players themselves, most specifically the Storytellers. Players get so many opportunities to create God-Stomping Solar (Or Lunar, or whathaveyou) Saviors, that ST's need to respond in kind with a dark, mysterious plot. Now... players don't use the Signature characters, so why should STs be limited to only using Canon villains and plots? I think the fact that there are so many Dark, twisted, and tainted creations coming out by fans is just a testament to their creativity, Storyteller response to the creativity of their own players ~ BrigandRansom, who is currently making life a living *snicker* Hell for the redemption-bound abyssal in his campaign

And sometimes, we just have these strange little ideas that we want to share .. *winks* -- Taichara

I see you managed to work in different dragon-types. ;) It would be interesting to ponder interations with these sorts and the B&F people... or even the Kitty. -Okensha