Miedvied/FutureExalted
So, ....
This would be easier if the Alchemicals book were out.
Given: The Alchemicals have invaded Creation.
Given: The DL's can be eradicated, though how is a rare secret. I won't
be divulging it here.
They conquered - and later lost, to a small Solar-Lunar alliance
- the South, but not before taking to the Realm. They currently
lose-and-regain the Imperial City on an almost weekly basis, but they
have a firm hold on Sion, Noble, Nishimo, the entire south- southeastern
coast of the Blessed Isle, and have a firm line of defense across the
mountains running north by northwest from Noble (though no defenses have
yet been established across the mountains heading south, just east of
Tuchara; this is the unofficial border of the end of
Alchemical-controlled land.)
By RY 900 or so, the Realm has broken in three warring city-states; in
the north lie the territories (the Heptagram, Bright Obelisk, Chanos,
Pangu, and Juche) that have been taken control of by the Mnemon. They
have lost the former tributaries of the Realm (such as Paragon) which
rebelled after the Civil War erupted, but a surprising amount of
Sidereals and elder Mnemon were in the Heptagram when war erupted, and
the Ragara made a push to control those lands. Though they succeeded,
they lost their old holdings.
They have a tenuous hold only on the Imperial City, which has
been reduced to rubble in their constant wars against the Alchemicals
that have infested it.
Much the same can be said for Juche, which is the spearhead of the contention between Mnemon's lands and the Shadowland of Stygia, which now occupies the Traiter, Portee, and Lord's Crossing. The Stygian shadowland is small, and only a fraction of the actual city of Stygia. These former cities have been decimated, and in their place now stand the sky-shredding ebon towers of Stygia, with dead wandering the streets and rice paddies decaying into rot. Though the Deathlords still vie for control with one another, there are only three remaining; the returned Solars have eradicated ten. (That's right; /ten/.)
The First and Forsaken Lion was tricked into believing that Princess Magnificent had fallen in love with him; and in fact, had then betrayed him to The Bishop. In reality, she /had/ fallen in love with him, but she had never betrayed him (nor, frankly, ever expressed her love to anyone but herself.) Still, by the time the Lion's rage ended, Magnificent was truly dead, and the Lion was actually heartbroken. The decievers - a group of Solars, that had come into something resembling the Lion's trust - used this time to harp upon his emotions, and he redeemed.
The Bishop, already having been at open war with the Lion, found
himself being invaded by an army of barbarians led by the Lunar Exalt
Bane of Black Boons, riding in twilight directly through the shadowland
surrounding the Hidden Tabernacle. Though this battle did not defeat
him, it destroyed massive portions of his citadel, eradicated his
followers, weakened his forces, and in the end, left him as easy prey
for the Solars that had taken control of the Lion's forces, who marched
through the Underworld to conquer and vanquish the Bishop.
The Silver Prince is gone, as is the Skullstone
Archipelago/Coral. Entirely gone. The Fae made a massive incursion in
the west, attacking from every possible direction, and a massive wave of
Wyld engulfed all of the Archipelagos. It flooded the shadowlands, and
when night came, flooded into the Underworld as well. Striking one
another like electricity to grounded line, the Wyld energy in the
Underworld was instantly eradicated - as was the Shadowland and the
surrounding land in the Underworld. There are no islands remaining in
the west; nothing but Wyld lies there (or, in the case of the
Underworld, pure void; even the Sea of Shadows empties into the space
that was once Underworld and disappears. )
Lover Clad in Raiment of Tears still survives; she has withdrawn
to her Citadel, and keeps an army of warrior-concubines, Abyssal
Exalted, and a few Solar lovers about her at all times, to ensure her
protection.
And it /is/ ensured, so long as she doesn't go out and attempt
to make war with anyone. For the time being, at least; the circle that
redeemed the Lion and slew the Bishop and arranged for the death of
Princess Magnificent may make the Lover their next target, if she is
seen trying to rally forces against them.
She is surviving deathlord #1.
Eye and Seven Despairs has disappeared entirely, and his forces
have been taken control of by his three Abyssal servants. His new body -
that of Star of Dirt and Doubt - has been found slain, though this is
undoubtedly not Eye and 7 Despairs himself. His current where abouts are
entirely unknown, and he is whispered about like a wraith in the night;
everyone in the Underworld fears where he will appear next, to take his
vengeance.
He is surviving DL #2. Whether or not he's /functioning/ ( he
may well be captured in a massive yasal crystal that sheds tears of
blood and liquor) is another question entirely.
Dowager of Irreverant Vulgate in Unrent Veils was lain low by a
circle of Sidereals, a massive pack of Lunars (seven of them), and the
sacrifice of an elder Sidereal. The elder lost his life tracking down
the Dowager during one of her hunts, and casting upon her the nets of
Neferuaten (Of Horrors Best Unknown charm) even as the Dowager parted
the elder from what was left of his life. This netting, however,
weakened the Dowager sufficiently that the remaining Sidereals - none of
them neonates, be assued - and the Lunars could attack the Dowager and
Only one Lunar survived. The Dowager, temporarily made part of
Fate, did not. That Lunar would be he who later goes on to die in the
attack on the Bishop.
The specifics of the fate of Walker in Darkness are currently unknown. However, all of his Monstrances of Celestial Portion have erupted into bales of golden light, and those of his Abyssals that have fallen dead have resumed returning to Lytek. Some whisper this has been accomplished by the Gods in Great Forks. Some will whisper anything.
His massive armies have been claimed by his servant Shards of
Basalt to Her Army, who has been extremely courteous towards the Gods of
Great Forks (inspiring the rumors above.)
The Mask of Winters is survivor number three.
He has an extensive army in the Underworld, and has conquered
several cities surrounding Thorns. A massive wall of ebon crystal has
been built around the entirety of his territory in Creation; it is so
dark that the sun's light raises it to well beyond the temperature at
which water boils, and is so tall that clouds build up in banks against
it, forming their own weather systems around the wall, and the areas
around it.
The Mask of Winters has conquered Stygia and the rest of the
Shadowland on the Blessed Isle, as well as having conquered massive
swaths of land that once belonged to the Walker in Darkness.
Eagel's Launch, Eye of Creation, and the surrounding satraps are
currently ruled by local bands of Small Gods, and a tiny band of Solars
and Lunars attempting to forge a new Solar Deliberative, with attempts
at diplomacy being made towards the Alchemicals and Ragara.
The Scavenger Lands have, for the most part, been reconquered by
the Solars, though some areas have fallen to tribes of Lunars (and the
Haltan and Linowan have been united as one tribe under the bloody banner
of the lunar Seven Cities Stride; a civilized lunar and former wandering
minstrel that is building a massive city-in-the-trees with adjoining
allies on the ground. He is being guided in his efforts by local
sidereal supervisors.)
It is currently RY 5020.
The Silver Pact has become more xenophobic and bent on
destruction, though it's membership has shrunk; many Lunars have either
courted the frontier semi-civilization in the Scavenger Lands, rejoining
the Solars, or fully re-entered civilization in the Realm (where they
are openly welcomed on the western coast, in Eagle's Launch and Eye of
Creation.)
The Alchemicals have built up technology to an equivalent of the
heighest realms of science fiction. Their satraps are domed cities
(you'll see why later), they've conquered the Imperial City from the MoW
and Ragara both (and enclosed it in another dome), and where their
cities are open, massive essence-cannons stand ready to blast any aerial
opponents. They have already built massive essence-fueled ships that can
reach into Space; or, more specifically, can go beyond the upper strata
of Creation and into Elsewhere, can travel through elsewhere all the way
up to, around, and beyond Yu-Shan, and above it to the physical
celestial bodies (which, if one attempts to land on them, are actually
little more than the atoms of the molecules that make up the Celestial
Incarna; and the Incarna will quickly shrink down to deal with the
ships.) The only place these ships can't travel is through Shadowlands
into the Underworld; their Essence batteries are miniscule, and function
as little more than temporary storage as ambient essence is used to make
the ships function; and there is no ambient essence in the underworld.
Entering it will force the ship to land (or crash) within a handful of
hours, and using its on-board weaponry will reduce that time
drastically.
The concepts of magic-technology are very carefully kept secret
by the Alchemicals, so that none can replicate it. However, this has not
quite been successful; Solar savants have been able to reverse-engineer
quite a bit (and invent some things on their own), and some people are
Exalted from among the elite engineers of the alchemical city-states;
and these Exalted, obviously, take their knowledge with them.
The only realm to rival the Alchemicals for technological
advancement is the Underworld (and, thus, Mask of Winters.) Frankly,
this is because it's in possession of all the knowledge of those members
of the alchemical city-states that have died.
And many, many people die. You know, like, all of them.
They don't suffer the same essence regeneration problem in
Creation that Alchemical ships do in the underworld. This is because the
underworld ships function entirely on batteries instead of ambient
energy. This, however, gives them massive essence batteries (that can be
targeted to take them down), as well as giving them a much more limited
amountof time in the air, and less energy with which to make their
weapons function.
Alchemical built starships are, individually, usually the size
of large troop carriers. They also have small scouting ships (comparable
to the Fast Courier), and the occasional Mothership (stats to follow.)
In any given situation, an alchemical built ship will usually have an
advantage over non-alchemical starships by several points of tack, 2-3
points of speed, 1 point of maneuverability, require fewer crew members,
and have an almost doubled soak rating. Not all of these benefits will
be present in all ships - the Fast Courier will not have a double soak,
for instance, but ought to have more maneuverability and more speed.
Examples will follow.
Underworld ships are smaller than alchemical ships (to help
conserve essence expenditures.) Most of their ships are harriers and
scouts; they have few motherships, and *no* middle-sized ships (whereas
middle-sized ships make up the vast bulk of the Alchemical space navy.)
The new Solar Deliberative (with lunar allies) possesses only a
small space navy, and this consists of almost nothing but orbital
motherships (which lack any ability to travel to attack other cities;
their only purpose is to defend the cities below them from attacking
ships from the MoW or the Alchemicals.)
Note: Magical ships have 2 sets of HL's. The first of these must be destroyed to destroy the ship. Upon being destroyed, the ship will lose the energy animating it, and will crash. More importantly, its reality bubble will disappear; killing all aboard if out in Elsewhere. The only way to take down the ship without killing all aboard is by targetting essence-thrusters, which are the 2nd set of HL's. In parenthesis, to the 2nd HL's, are the diff. penalties associated with targetting the thrusters.
Alchemical Fast Courier (Scout, Fast Attack Ship)
Length: 17 feet Beam: 10 ft Draft: None. What waterline? Rig Type/Closest Tack: None. Uses thrusters. Speed: 6 Maneuverability: -2 Standard/Minimum Crew: 2/1 Soak: 6L Health Levels: 14/3 (5) Thrusters: Rear-only. On-ship defenses: Two forward-hull mounted essence-lasers (miniature light implosion bows, that appear to be small laser canons. Acc +2, Dmg 6B/6L, Rate 1, Range 250, Artifact 3 each, but are a 'given' on any such ship.) Take-off: Runway usually used, though vertical lift abilities can be added per pilot's request (and superior's approval.)
Think of a Star Wars Y-Wing.
Alchemical Warship (the bulk of their navy)</b>
<b>Length: 600 ft. Beam: 100 ft. Levels: 10-15, depending on the ship, levels joined with floating tubes Speed: 3 (reduced by 1 when energy diverted to full shields, and an additional 1 on any turn when super-heavy weapons are used.) Maneuverability: -5 (same penalties as speed) Standard/Minimum Crew: 250/40 Soak: 10L (energy diverted to shields raises this by an additional 10) Health Levels: 45/20 (3) Thrusters: Massive thrusters rear-mounted on the ships (usually in two large thruster banks on either side of the rear of the ship, much like the USS enterprise), with minor thrusters on the underbelly and on the forward of the ship, for slowing the ship, raising it, and reversing it. These minor thruster banks can be destroyed for 8HL's(diff.1), but do not crash the ship; they simply reduce the ship's maneuverability by an additional 1.
These ships are mounted with laser cannons equivalent to
Lightening Ballista (elemental), roughly three spread out from front to
rear on each port and starboard, on protruding firing banks. (Think of
the laser cannon cockpit on the millenium falcon. I think that's the
one, anyway. With the double-lasers.) A series of essence-lasers ( see
the fast attack craft) are mounted on the under-belly of the ship
(roughly 20, though each group of 4 is controlled by one crewman, and
are fired with a single attack roll) to protect both the rear thrusters
and the hangar (which can fit about 10 fast-attack ships.)
Any round on which the LB(Elemental) are fired, consider the
ship as having fired a super-heavy weapon (giving maneuver and speed
penalties), as well as giving a diff. penalty of 1 to all sailing and
attack rolls using the ship's weapons as the ship's power sources
temporarily falter.
These are often built in pieces, and their construction finished
on a Mothership, where they can safely take off on a massive runway.
These ships often have under-belly hangars that can open to drop
massive bombs on cities below them (and thus the domes on alchemical
cities; to prevent the same from happening to them.) Few ships carry
more than a dozen of these. Each bomb will erupted in a roughly 100 yard
radius, causing 30L damage (fire), plus any damage from standing fire
(these are napalm-like.) A Wits+Sail roll vs. diff 3 is neccasary to
drop the bomb accurately; otherwise, it may be well over a hundred yards
off (reduce diff. if the ship is sailing low to earth; but likewise make
it easier for land-based defenders to attack them.)
Alchemical Mothership</b>
<b>Length: 3 miles. Beam: 2 miles Levels: 300 Speed: 1 at full thrust. Usually travels at half-of-one. Consider it's speed to be roughly 30 miles per hour on full thrust, and 15 at half. Maneuverability: -10 Standard/Minimum Crew: 5,000/800 Soak: 25L Health Levels:600 (one can puncture a hole large enough for a man to crawl into the ship after 10 HL's; for a fast-attack ship to fly in after 30 HL's, and for a massive swath of destruction after 50. Consider each 100 health levels to be roughly 1 square mile.) / 75 (1)
The mother ships are shaped like massive triremes, with a single
thruster bank of almost one hundred thrusters in the rear,and another
twenty on each port and starboard of the forward hull (15 HL's, diff 2
for each of the front groupings, to reduce maneuv by another 1 for both
of their destruction.)
These are essentially small floating cities, with about five
hangers on them, each hanger large enough to house both vertical landing
zones and run strips, as well as dozens of warships and hundreds of fast
attack craft, not to mention support and repair crew, essence
rechargers, medical crews, and the occasional strip joint and bar.
Mothership hangars are protected by 5-batteries-of-4 laser
canons, accompanied by 2 Lightening Ballista (common) at their
entrances, with the occasional single laser canon spread throughout the
hangers, to create an interwoven matrix of laser fire in case someone
should attempt to infiltrate. There is not, however, any surveillance
equipment.
Mothership runways often have two Lightening Ballista (common)
straddling them.
Mothership forward hulls have five LB (elemental) on each port and starboard, with five dozen batteries-of-four laser canons accompanying them. (It is generally wise to attempt to attack motherships from behind and go straight for thrusters. However, while this destroys forward motion and engages a slow descent, the only way to force a fast crash is to finish the forward thruster banks; which are covered in the firing range of the many, many, batteries-of-four).
Underworld Fast Attack Craft</b>
<b>Length: 14 feet Beam: 6 ft Speed: 7 Maneuverability: -1 Standard/Minimum Crew: 1 Soak: 5L Health Levels: 12/3 (5) Thrusters: Rear-only. On-ship defenses: Two forward-hull mounted soulsteel shard canons. Acc+4, Dmg 3B/4L, Rate: 3, Range: 150, anyone struck by these massive clouds of soulsteel shards loses an amount of essence equal to damage sustained. Treat these as canvas-shredding arrows when attacking sails. When attacking ships, the target ship loses essence as does a person. In ships that use Essence-recycling, any turn in which they suffer an amount of damage equal to half or more of their soak rating suffer an essence short-out, and are considered 'stunned' (unable to act for the remainder of that round, and the following one; they *do* lose altitude during this time. They shouldn't, however, crash to the ground unless they've already explicitly been stated as flying low.)
Solar Mothership</b>
Same as Alchemical, save for half the speed, HL's of 550/60(1), and possessing of few (if any) hangars or runways. Rather, the Solar ships instead have many, many more essence-laser cannons mounted both top and bottom; these ships have 360-firing arcs, and exist solely to protect the cities below them.
House Ragara currently has almost a dozen fast-attack ships, and 2 war galleys. That is all they are in possession of, and only their extensive sorceries and ranged artifact weapons keep them from being conquered by others.
<b>Weapon Availability:
PC's should have bullet-using weapons as well as lasers
available to them. See my Exalted Cyberpunk post for bullet weapons.
Laser weapons should follow the rules for implosion bows, lightening
ballista, and other essence weapons we've already seen.
Charm Adjustments:
Use Sail charms for sailing, and adjusted firearms charms (see Cyberpunk Exalted) for lasers and bullet-using guns.
Charms that protect Exalts from the Wyld also protect them from
Elsewhere, if they fall out of the protective Reality bubble of a ship.
