Discussions/Music

What music do you go to for Exalted inspiration?

I don't know about ya'll, but I prefer lyrical music while writing stuff, and purely instrumental when actually playing. What favorite songs do you listen to to inspire what thoughts and moods?

DS's list-

Solar Exalted

• Invincible (Pat Bentar)- In my mind, one of the strongest songs for conveying the major riffs of Exalted; being trapped with only a few allies, surrounded by enemies, unable to remain innocent and naive- and through it all, despite everything, coming through glorious and invincible.
• The orchestral theme for Requim for a Dream (Clint Mansel) - The most stirring pulse pounding build up and climax battle music ever. With very little competition. As reference, it was the music used for the Two Towers trailer, which is where I first heard it.
• Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (Santa Esmerelda) - A more poignent piece, appropriate for the overkill that Exalted sometimes bring to bear- and a reminder of the Great Curse hounding their steps. As reference, one of the major songs from Kill Bill part one.

Abyssal Exalted

• No Light (3rd Strike) - One of a LOT of Renegade Abyssal songs. A mix of rage at being trapped in their shadow existance, and the wish to break free.
• Haunted (Poe) - Actually, almost every song by Poe can serve as the inspiratin to an Abyssal character or chronicle, but Haunted has a special place in my heart. When I was trying to understand the Underworld and how an Abyssal's game would play, Haunted kicked in, and all was made clear. Also one of the few songs about a Loyalist Abyssal, in my mind- one who trully exults in the Black Exaltation - even as they regret their past actions.
• You Will Never Leave Harlan Alive (Brad Paisely) - Not for the specific lyrics, but the feeling of quiet despair conveyed by a company coal town, and the raw creepiness of finding your grandfather's grave with the phrase 'You will never leave Harlan alive' written on it.
• Wake Me Up Inside (Evanessence) - What I said about Poe? Largely goes for Evanessence as well. Wake Me Up Inside holds a special place though, as the lyrics could easily be sung, virtually word for word, by someone who has just accepted the Black Exaltation, and despairs to their twisted destiny.
• Also Rans: Either Way (my favorite version is sung by Guster); Enjoy The Silence (Depeche Mode); Aura's Theme (.HACK- 'if you are here, in the dark, I will tell you about the Sun; you are here, no escape, from my visions of the world; you will cry, all alone, but it does not mean a thing to me...' Goddamn creepy undead primordials...)

Lunar Exalted

• Wild (Poe) - An exception to Poe's gothy-ness this isn't, but Wild happens to strike me as more a Lunar anthem- specifically, the Silver Pact's feelings in the re-emergence of the Solars.
• Russian Lullaby (E-Type) - A highly energetic song about old traditions, survival and living. I can't explain more clearly, but it feels Lunarish to me.
• Battle without Honor or Humility (Tomoyasu Hotei) - Another Kill Bill piece, it's this driving, pounding THING. People need to die to this music.

I also don't have as solid a grip on the Lunars as I do on the others... I have found their strong anthem, in my mind, although Wild does a near job -DS

Sidereal Exalted

• People Are Strange (The Doors) - A weirdly little lamenting song for the Guards of the Weave, those eternal Strangers who see pattern and the truth behind chance; not to mention that no one remembers your name when your strange.
• Frozen (Madonna) - A good song for the Gold faction, as used in opposition or contrast to the Bronze. A desire and need for reconcilation, directed at a static individual consumed with hatreds from the past. Especially for Sidereal lovers, together since the First Age and split by the Great Prophecy.
• Karma Slave (Splashdown) - From the Titan AE soundtrack (I think), a good shocase of the dichtomy of being bound to a fate you helped to create.

Terrestrial Exalted

• Princes of the Universe (Queen) - Ker-duh. Both the raw arrogance and the siege mentality of the Realm, now in one set piece! Also, arguably, the theme of every Exalted, of the game as a whole across the splats.

More to come! Later days!

SunRunner 's suggestions:

• Liberi Fatali (Final Fantasy VIII) -- An excellent piece that creates a sense of suspense, verging on the explosion. Excellent track to play when introducing a big bad with it's entourage.
• Spirit (Kokoro) (Yasunori Mitsuda, Xenosaga) -- It is just that cool.
• Pain (Yasunori Mitsuda, Xenosaga) -- Also just that cool. "Spirit" and "Pain" suggests a Lunar and Solar relationship to me.
• Fake Wings (.hack//sign) -- A lovely piece of music that is great for setting an "angelic" mood appropriate for the Exaltation of a Solar.
• Hikari (English PLANITb Remix, Kingdom Hearts) -- Sounds like an optimistic (and romantic) Solar to me. ("Regardless of warnings, the future doesn't scare me at all")

Patkin's suggestions:

• Abyssal Exalted:\\

• • Akira Original Soundtrack (Geinoh Yamashirogumi) -- Has always given me a clear view of the Underworld, previously in Wraith but now translated to Exalted via the Abyssals. Doll's Polyphony and Battle Against Clown are both excellent for the heaving sighs and glittering madness of the Labyrinth. Winds Over Neo-Tokyo is great for the ethereal qualities of the shadowlands, placed with a harsh tinge of the real world. Shohmyoh is perfect for the ancestor cults and nephwrack cults. And Mutation is so perfect for Juggernaut!\\

• Sidereal Exalted:\\

• • Miyazaki's Spirited Away Soundtrack (Joe Hisaishi) -- Perfect for the eccentricities of Yu-Shan and the epic bureaucracy of the Sidereal Exalted. Mix it in with the quiet sounds building to even higher peaks, and you have the Sidereal Exalted in all their glory, risen from the muted impression they make on Creation to the great power they wield amongst the greatest gods of Yu-Shan.\\

• Lunar Exalted:\\

• • Princess Mononoke Soundtrack (Joe Hisaishi) -- Duh. Legendary, epic, and driving. Everything good about the Lunars is in this soundtrack. Great for when the barbarian horde crests a hill, when the Fair Folk warriors decide to destroy another part of stable Creation, the ethereal qualities of the elemental spirts and gods of nature. Just generally pretty awesome.\\

• Terrestrial Exalted:\\

• • Samurai X OVA Original Soundtrack -- Perfect for the intrigue portion of the Dragon-Blooded game, also makes for a pretty nifty soundtrack to the Dragon-Blooded Shogunate. With One of These Nights, you can begin to feel the immense nature of the struggle of the Dragon-Blooded have, between family, nation and the right thing to do. In Blood, you can almost picture a sworn brotherhood having to walk into the den of an Aanathema, the fear, the stench of loyal servent's blood splattered on the walls. Just keen, really. Definately leaning on the dark side of the Dragon-Blooded, but with a power all its own.\\

• • His & Her Circumstances Original Soundtrack -- And on the other side of the spectrum! Really just reminds me of the boarding school dramas that young Terrestrials go through. There's the promise of new lives opening up, totally appropriate to a place where most Dynasts get their first taste of the Exaltation. A happy shining soundtrack for the argueably better portions of a Dragon-Blooded's childhood.\\

• Alchemical Exalted:\\

• • The Matrix Trilogy Soundtracks, The Animatrix Soundtrack (Don Davis / Juno Reactor) -- Just seems obvious, really. The Alchemicals are gods in their universe, and it feels right to give them such epic music. Sure, it's electronica, but hey, so is half the things in Autochthonia. You can hear the Charm parts churning, the clay bodies exerting themselves to their model peak performance.\\

• Solar Exalted:\\

• • Trigun: the First Donuts and Trigun: Spicy Stewed Donut -- Yeah, I know, but it's some of the best wandering hero music ever. Kind of Western for such a kung fu / wuxia style game, but it's definately what I use if I wanna think fo Solars as y'know, actual heroes.\\

haren's suggestions:

• One Million Miles (J. Ralph) - A horribly sad sounding song. Somewhat orchestral in the sound. Sounds like harpsichord and violins... not much lyrics, but I think it's good for Abyssals or any sad points.
• Coming Back With A Sword (Hardknox) - Really, alot of theirs can work. Gritty techno, with rough british accents talking about how peace, love, and unity for all mankind are a lie. Lunars or maybe Abyssals, but more Lunar.
• Commissioning a Symphony in C (Cake) - A wonderful song about the decadence of the old Solars, or the Dragon-blooded Dynasts. ^_^
• Terra (Nobuo Uematsu for Final Fantasy IV) - Another sad song, that seems to invoke a lone wanderer on a journey of great importance... perhaps to find themselves.
• Let Forever Be (Chemical Brothers) - A song that's both sad and happy. Probably Solar, but could be Abyssal, though less likely. The lyrics "How does it feel like to wake up in the sun? How does it feel like to shine on everyone?" say it all.
• Wicked Garden (Stone Temple Pilots) - To be honest, so much of their works have given me a spark of inspiration, or been playing when I get Abyssal ideas. Gotta be something there. ^_^
• Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner (Warren Zevon) - Songs about headless corpses animated by the spirit of a vengeful warrior seeking the destruction of the man who betrayed him... and other betrayers later on... Not exactly directly Exalted, but definately one I could see for a Necromancer with a sense of irony.
• Cry Little Sister (Sisters of Mercy) - I don't know, this one is tough. Perhaps an Abyssal seeking freedom, but tempted to the sins of their past.
• Castles Made of Sand (Jimi Hendrix) - A great song about Abyssals battling the Fae or destroying others dreams. Or perhaps even Exalting.
• Control (Poe) - Could be anyone, but I can see it as a DB rebelling, or a Celestial battling against the fate set down by Sidereals.
• The Devil's Song (Marcy Playground) - While most appropriate for Infernals, really could be any incredibly charming Exalt.
• The Battle of Evermore (Led Zeppelin) - Obviously a song about Solars battling against an Abyssal warlord.
• The Real Thing (Lords of Acid) - A song about change, dreams, 2000 nights or more, strange days not like before. Definately good for the chaos of the changes with the return.
• The Golden Path (Chemical Brothers) - Lest I forget, a great song about a traveler "dying", confronting great demons, moving toward silver mountains with whispers from the moon, on a "golden path"... Solar all the way.
• The Shadow of Seattle (Marcy Playground) - This one could be easily part of a slightly more down part of a Solar game. Talking about their "divine light", artifacts a city hides, whatnot.
• I Just Want You (Ozzy Ozzbourne) - All the talk about how there are no doors that are unlockable, songs that are unsingable, just made me think of Exalted. And in the end, he's done everything, and just wants one person. It's got First Age parts, and those of the Second Age too.
• Excitable Boy (Warren Zevon) - A disturbing song... could easily be about a budding (or already Exalted) Abyssal.
• Devil Went Down to Georgia (Multiple Artists) - A demon or ghost who loves music and is looking to get a toy and runs into a Solar without knowing it.

Ikselam\\ Songs in quotes, albums in italics.

• Yes, "The Gates of Delirium"\\

A great little prog-rock-operetta, it could easily be about the end of the First Age, or the Second.

• Rush, Vapor Trails\\

Great material for Abyssals, especially ronin. The song "Ghost Rider" is especially appropriate.

• Poe, Haunted\\

I used to agree that this would be a good Abyssal album, but really, it's much better Sidereal inspiration. Just replace Poe's dad with Chejop Kejak, and you're all set.

More to come later

Darzoni

• Aura, .hackDiscussions/SIGN OST1: I imagine the part of the Fall of Thorns when the Abyssals walked out of the dead behemoth, and slaughtering the denizens of Thorns. A really eerie song that fits Abyssals well.
• The Fletcher Memorial Home, Pink Floyd, The Final Cut: "Take all your overgrown Solars away somewhere, and build them a home, a place of their own. The Kejak Memorial Home for incurable tyrants and kings..." Okay, so it's more parody fodder than serious thematic music. ^_^
• High Hopes, Pink Floyd, The Division Bell: The song has the quality of being a funeral dirge for lost hopes and dreams, much like how the First Age is lost forever.
• In The Land of Twilight, Under the MoonDiscussions/I>, .hackDiscussions/SIGH OST2: Sounds like something you'd hear playing when in a big battle against the Fair Folk in Rakshastan. Especially if it was Fair Folk armies vs. Abyssal armies.
• <i>I Want It All, Queen: Perfect for Dynasts. Greed! Decadence!
• Key of Twilight, .hackDiscussions/SIGN OST1: It's like... a theme song for Exalted.
• King of Pain, The Police: Abyssal seeking redemption, anyone?
• Marooned, Pink Floyd, The Division Bell: Long voyages at sea with no sight in end, an interminable time where all you see is endless water and the passage of the days. Also useable for imprisonment.
• One Of These Days, Pink Floyd, Meddle: I can imagine the fevered dreams of a First Age Solar who heard the dying curses of a Primordial. She is running from some monumental shadow through a Wyld-spawned landscape of dreams, pursued. And then the shadow's owner becomes apparent and it is the Primordial, who screams its dying curse yet again.
• Rock Anthem To Save The World, HALO OST: Um, seems like a generic Exalted battle theme. You can use On A Pale HorseDiscussions/I>, also from HALO, as a high-tension battle song.
• <i>Run Like Hell, Pink Floyd, The Wall: Although the lyrics really don't apply, the melody really gets me thinking about a group of Solars escaping a city full of angry Dynasts in a dramatic chase scene that involves buildings crumbling and panic in the streets.
• Show Must Go On, Queen: It's like a big opera that the Incarna are watching, and the Sidereals are trying to manage all the actors (the other Exalted) so the show runs smoothly, and it's not working... the actors are all being unreasonable and selfish. I also think this is good for the damatic principles the Fair Folk play with every day.
• Signs of LifeDiscussions/I>, Pink Floyd, A Momentary Lapse of Reason: A moody piece that would set the mood for traveling through the Underworld.
• <i>Sorrow, Pink Floyd, A Momentary Lapse of Reason: A Solar awakening in the Second Age could be the subject of the song. It resonates with the feel of the Age of Sorrows in general, but there's mentions of waking with no reason to and treachery as well, which resonates with the situation of the Solars in the Second Age.
• Tie Your Mother Down, Queen: Seems like something the Fair Folk would be partial to. Come to think of it, a lot of popular Queen songs seem like stuff that evokes the Fair Folk; weird, baroque, and... just sounding weird.

YuuChanClan

• Gone Jackals, "Let 'Er Rip"\\

A Lunar's take on civilization

• Tsunami Bomb, "The Invasion from Within"\\

Basically what its like to be on the recieving end of Investiture of Infernal Glory

• Dream Theater, "Scene Eight: The Spirit Carries On"\\

A mortal is shown the manner of his death and is offered the Abyssal bargain (just before the song begins). In the first half of the song, the mortal reflects on his mortality and overcomes dispair. By the second half of the song, the mortal having rejected Oblivion, exalts as a Solar (incidently realizing what's been going on with that Past Lives ** merit that's been haunting him).

Arafelis
The Rasmus - LastWaltz : to me, this is an interesting take on the Lunar/ Solar relationship, perhaps with a Lunar/ Abyssal twist. Lyrics provided.

Dorchadas' list

• Chan (Thunder), off Frank Steiner's "I Ching Symphony." It's entirely instrumental, but it conveys the feel of a lone Exalt against the world, to me. Rainswept peaks, secluded glades, and lots of swordplay.
• Slave to the Dark, by Iced Earth. I has the uberangst that I imagine a repentent Abyssal would feel when thinking of the choice they made to take the Black Exaltation. Power in exchange for free will, and that whatever they do, in the end, they still serve the Malfeans.
• I second Patkin's suggestion of the Trigun soundtrack, especially Never Could Have Been Worse (a good theme song for a wandering hero), and Fool's Paradise.
• Neodämmerung, off the Matrix Revolutions soundtrack. I really like choral music for climactic battles, and with the chanting in the background about light defeating darkness, it makes a good song for Solars heroically struggling against the odds.
• Zeal Palace Theme, from the incomparable Chrono Trigger. Very light, and very eerie. It's the music I think of when I describe a Deathlord's stronghold.
• Let Me Be Your Armor, by Assemblage 23. It's ostensibly a love song, until the very last verse... It always reminds me of the degeneration the Solars went through in the First Age, and how something that started so well could end in blood and fire.
• On the Turning Away, by Pink Floyd. Though the Solars' imprisonment wasn't really voluntary, this song reminds me of why they were imprisoned, and their return. I imagine it sung by a Zenith, who is determined that the mistakes of the past will never be repeated.

Bassist159's list

• Abyssal Exalted
  • The March of the Dead, by :Wumpscut:. The fast, powerful marching beat of a song about an army of the undead comming to destroy the earth simply screams Abyssal, in my eyes.
  • Eyes of a Ghost, by Bella Morte. Definately a description of a renegade abyssal, if I ever heard one. It's a great deal more rock-ish than the other songs on my list, but it does fit very well with the themes of wanting to find a way to go back to their proper state.
  • Like Tears in the Rain, by Covenant. First band on my list to get a second mention (well, third, if you count my reccomendation of the Claire Voyant remix). Reguardless, despite some cyberpunk overtones (a reference to Gibson and to Blade Runner), the song captures the renegade Abyssal's pain at immortality, all the while conjuring some intesting imagery.
  • The Smoke of Her Burning, by Cradle of Filth. I've never been too keen on this band, but the song has the atmosphere of your classic Abyssal Bad*ss. Very fast, very metal sounding - so be warned if you're one of those people who likes softer sounding music. Also, the lead singer's vocals sound like sandpaper on my ears.
  • Halber Mensch, by Einstürzende Neubauten. Once again, one of those songs that is so disturbing sounding, that it couldn't be anything else but fitting for an Abyssal encounter. It's got a very disturbing edge to it, that'd work perfectly for the disgusting antagonist.
  • Helena, by the Misfits. The bizzare lyrics ("If I cut off your arms and I cut off your legs, would you still love me anyways?") coupled with the heavy riff and the change-ups in the song make it perfect for your derranged, high-compassion Abyssal.
  • Marian, by Sisters of Mercy. Eldritch's haunting vocals, mixed with the odd instrumental effects and lyrical changes (part of the song is in German) make this song exceptionally bleak, almost to the point of being lugubrious. It fits exceptionally well, however, for a Renegade Abyssal, or a ghost.
  • Mine Eyes, by Switchblade Symphony. Very fitting song for the more scheming Abyssals. The tone of the song itself is very haunting, and the questioning tone of the lyrics can be, in the proper mindset, rather unsettling.
  • Bring me Violence, by Tactical Sekt. Very electronic sounding, but unlike some of the other stuff, it comes out more as chaotic noise. The lyrics in particular is what makes me suggest it ("born out of rage, the end of creation..."), and it also works rather well for Akuma.

• Alchemical Exalted
  • OK Amp - Let Me Out, by Apoptygma Berzerk. This one wins it's way onto the list not because of inspirational quality, but because I used it as background music in the a scene and it fit fantastically. It's very techno-y, which might be a turn-off for some of you, but I found it a nice fit for a chase in a busy Autocthonica street.
  • Testure, by Skinny Puppy. This song starts nasty and keeps going from there, but the coice in wording makes me think so heavily of Alchemicals that it can't seem to reprisent anything else. This is a perfect song for your Clarity-Heavy Soulsteel enforcers.
  • Essence of Mind, by Solitary Experiments. This one's a bit of a rarity, but I still highly reccomend it for anyone who's looking for a good Alchemical song. All about artifical intelligences, which is essentially what an autobot is.
  • Number Radio Broadcasts, by your friendly local government agencies. You can find tapes of these online, as well as sets of them. For those that don't know, they're thought to be radio recordings used to inform spies. Considering it sounds like something Autocthon would use to inform the masses, and some of them just sound damned creepy, it makes for good setting peices.

• Dragon-Blooded Exalted
  • Crown of Thorns, by :Wumpscut:. From the opening quote (taken from Gladiator; "I have seen much of the world. It is brutal, and cruel, and dark..."), to the rather bleak lyrics, this song is very fitting for the jaded Dragon Blooded.
  • Sin, by Android Lust. A great theme song for a member of house Cynis, down to the closing line ("It's sin not to want things..."). The female vocals add a layer of depth to the song, and the fact that it's a great deal more accoustic sounding that what's to normally be expected from the band helps set it in the world of Exalted.
  • Burning Heretics, by Apoptygma Berzerk. From the opening quote ("The Holy Inquisition finds you guilty of heresy, and you and your decendants must be cleansed in blood!") to the lyrics, this song had a definite air of Immaculate monk to it.
  • Complacent, by Assemblage 23. I don't know if this is more fitting for the Dynastic Dragon-Blooded or First Age Solars, but it does work for both. The song's lyrics ring very much of the havoc that the various exalted can cause for one another with their Social charms.

• Lunar Exalted
  • Wolf, by :Wumpscut:. Very fast, very powerful, and the animalistic overtones in the sound of the song definately make me think Lunar (though, granted, without the sound of it, it'd definately be Abyssal).
  • Scavenger :Wumpscut:. Animalistic, negative, and very strong in it's own weird way, this seems very much akin to the Silver Pact.
  • Join in the Chant, by Nitzer Ebb. Very high energy song, with some seriously tribal sounds to it in places. The Metal Mix (referencing the sound of two peices of metal slamming into one another, rather than the genre) does it even better, as it gives it a strangely primitive beat.
  • Let Your Body Learn, by Nitzer Ebb. Once again, an overly high-energy song with a very raw edge to it, despite the use of some electronic instruments. Definately works for your tribal meeting-cum-insane-party.

• Scene-Setting
  • And Life Goes On, by :Wumpscut:. For those Storytellers that make the main characters bleed for every last second that they have to fight. A very driving, slow beat, great for that Solar picking himself up from the dead bodies of allies, and marching on to fight the massive antagonists.
  • Betrayal (Red Pyramids), by Akira Yamaoka. A great theme for the fights which you don't expect characters to win, as it's rather chaotic and paniced sounding. Almost everything on all four of the Silent Hill soundtracks make for some fantastic music, both for inspiration and for mood setting.
  • Forever, by Bruderschaft. Maybe I'm making light of this song (it was written in memory of one of the musician's father, when he died from cancer) by comparing it to Exalted, but the lyrics and sheer amounts of emotion behind every last word just screams "I am the eternal champion". The amount of talent on this album (Bruderscaft is composed of members from several electronic bands of no small amount of fame), and the fact that every cent of profit on this album goes to support cancer, I would really reccomend you buy it.
  • Majesty, by Claire Voyant. If someone can find a better song that says "Love and Exaltation", I'll eat my copy of Fair Folk. If you're an ADD kid, the Coventant's Electronic Body Music remix manages to retain most of the song's beauty, while making it a fair bit more upbeat.
  • Winterborn (This Sacrifice), by The Crüxshadows. Some people might prefer the Accoustic version. Reguardless, the song's theme of sacrifice for the greater good is an integral part of most people's view of heroics, and Exalted is no exception. Either version you can find is good, but they're quite different from one another (the accoustic is more of a balad, where as the traditional version is very much Darkwave).
  • Shadowplay, by Joy Division. The song's got a strange, dream-like feel to it, which helps some. Ian Curtis' vocals are less whiney and more haunting, as well. It's very fitting music for your assassin NPCs.
  • Summoned Beast Battle, by Nobou Uematsu. This peice is from Final Fantasy X, though you might find that much of all of the Final Fantasy soundtracks fit very well for these games. Between the fast-driving drums, and the horn-section sound, the entire orchestrated theme has a very epic feel to it. Definately for use in game, as well as brainstorming.
  • Rawhead and Bloodybones, by Siouxsie and the Banshees. If the title alone isn't a tip-off to the utter creepiness of the song, the music and lyrics will show. Perfect for those of you who like to spring Infernal things on your Circle. As the song plays, try to imagine the group comming around a corner and seeing a horrible scene like that...
  • The Choke, by Skinny Puppy. A tad electronic, but the lyrics lean very heavily twoards a starting character, especially in the last part, ("More shadows / See, you're not so wise!"). The odd mix of music and noise actually works in this song. My reccomendation is to go for the version labeled, "The Choke (Regrip)", if you can find the EP it's on.
  • Honor, by VNV Nation. A song about an army, about to march into certain peril. Harris' vocals are extremely powerful, especially twoards the middle of this song ("On this day of our Asencion / On this day, we praise the fallen!") help quite a bit.
  • Knight of Fire, by Yasunori Mitsuda. A great theme for the one-on-one duels that characters tend to find themselves in. Ironically (due to the fact that it's on the Xenogears soundtrack), perfect for Warstrider combat as well. Not to be used often, as the song is very simplistic and can get very annoying if overused, but a very driving tune.

• Sidereal Exalted
  • Call the Ships to Port, by Covenant. Very fast, and very haunting in it's lyrics. A perfect theme for Chosen of Journeys, if not for Sidreals in general. In particular, the lyrics from the second half fit very, very well.
  • Garden, by Einstürzende Neubauten. Strikes me as a Chosen of Endings or Serenity. The back and forth, calm tone makes me think of the passage of time. Definately a reply in discussion with a chosen of Journies.
  • Carbon, by VNV Nation. With the song discussing the stars, definately the best way to discuss how messed up the Sidereals are making things. "We killed everything / just to make a million points of light / that no one can see."
  • Darkangel, by VNV Nation. For those of you who prefer your Chosen of Endings (or Chosen of Secrets, for that matter) to have a more personal outlook on their job, this is quite fitting. This, like many of the selections, is more on the list for it's lyrics than the sound of it.

• Solar Exalted
  • Light, by Assemblage 23. "To the ones who want me on my knees / You cannot control my destiny / There is light that flows within my veins / There is darkness for the ones who bring me pain." Pretty plain to see why this is a Solar song.
  • The Sanity Assassin, by Bauhaus. This has always reminded me of the Twilight and Night castes, for some reason. It's very fast-paced (which is a tad strange for Bauhaus, this late into their careers), but it lends itself to the socal-fu element.
  • Kreig im Paradies, by Das Ich. The song is in German, so my translation might be incomplete - but, to my knowledge, it heavily rings of the usurpation of the Solars, and gives it a very violent edge. Good music to play for brainstorming.
  • Killing Game, by Skinny Puppy. For those of you who like to torture your players over just how wrong things went in the First Age, this song is perfect. Imagine it from Unconquered Sun's perspective, and you're golden.

Oh James' list:
Fight Club OST by the Dust Brothers.... Well, since it just inspired me to come up with a pack of Lunar NPCs for my current chronicle, I guess it's Lunar music. However, the tripped-out, slow, sample-ridden beats could easily cross over to an Abyssal game or, of course, an Alchemical game.

How It Ends by DeVotchKa, specifically "Twenty-Six Temptations," "Such a Lovely Thing," and "The Enemy Guns" ..... This album's got an Eastern European feel, all dark and exotic and cool. "Twenty-Six Temptations" in particular, is good inspiration for my raksha, simply for the lyrics: "come away lovely daughters / come away sons of man / dip your feet in the water / put your lives in these hands." Sound like a faerie talking you into letting him eat your soul? I thought so.

Medúlla by Björk, specifically "Ancestors" and "Submarine" ..... This whole album is really weird, using the human voice as its sole instrument, and kind of robotic and alien. Thus, I listened to it a bunch while creating my mud-woman Ring-obsessed Fair Folk. "Ancestors" is a whole bunch of breathing and wordless vocalization, backed by a simple piano line. It's creepy and otherworldly.

ErykTheRed's Songs

• Carmina Burana, by Carl Orff (it's really inconsequential what orchestra is performing it) - It's a bit of a cliche, but that's why it works. Even if you don't know this by name, you've heard it. Pieces of Carmina Burana are featured in commercials and movie trailers constantly, it's the quintessential "end of the world" theme music. It's got the very apocalyptic sounding choir amid the increasingly tense and loud and powerful orchestral music... this is Deathlord-fighting music. And it's long, making it more practical for use in play than most popular music. There's a solid half hour of sound here. If your group has a good rhythm in combat, quickly declaring, rolling and resolving with a minimum of dicking around, this is a perfect soundtrack to an epic battle. Says I.

• Der Tanz der Schatten, by Theatre of Tragedy - It's angsty. It's melodramatic. It's in German. Everything you want for Exalted. Seriously, though, this is great theme music for the character who's all about tragic love, Abyssal, Solar or whatever. Also, it's nice and fast-paced. Action! And, well, despite it's goth-iness, it's a really fun song. I can imagine a badass loner fighting with this song in the background (fighting to find his long-lost love, that is). (His long-lost love who he can never be with because he's an Anathema and she's a devout adherent to the Immaculate faith.)

Strange responds:
Carmina burana indeed, though in my opinion the recording does matter... Anyway, on that note, one also may consider Mozart's Requiem Mass or his 40th and 41st symphonies.

Agreed, Carmina Burana merely came to mind simply because it is such the standard for epic, apocalyptic music. And I only felt that the specific recording didn't matter much only because I am no connoisseur or music student. While I'm sure there are differences, even significant ones, most differences from one recording to the next would not affect my own listening experience.

On the subject of Carmina Burana, I'd definitely rip MP3s from a CD so you can bin some of the less appropriate songs. Fortuna Imperetrix Mundi (sp?) and the like are classics but others are more likely to break a mood than build it. - Voidstate

Another wonderfully dark and violent composition is Dvorak's Symphony No.9 in E minor... just heard it earlier today, and it (the first movement specifically) lends itself well to battle. Strange

Alchemical - [1] that thing right there. A rather interesting piece, but I think it covers... most of them.
-- Darloth

Maiden Of The Mirthless Smile's theme: Rob Zombie - Dragula
Ketchup Carjack's theme: Audioslave - Shadow On the Sun
Ayesha Ura's theme: Pendulum - The Tempest
Because Samurai Champloo is about two Lunars and a human girl: Poxy - Punk Rock Samurai
Obsidan Shards of Infinity Style: Tool - Forty Six & 2

- Han'ya