I'm running out to attend my daughter's graduation, but wanted to send out one more sneak peek preview to keep us excited through the weekend!
On Tuesday, backers will get the back half of Chapter 3, which contains the Exalted that we've already seen, but also...
Other Supernatural Entries
God, demons, and stranger things haunt all the corners of Creation, and often cross paths or purposes with the Exalted.
Demons
Strange inhabitants of the hell-city Malfeas, demons are amongst the oldest enemies of the chosen. All demons have the following qualities: Immaterial, Immortal (Demon), Measure the Wind. All Second and Third Circle demons have the Heroic and Significant qualities.
Erymanthoi, the Blood-Apes
Often summoned en masse to serve as an army or labor pool, the ferocious Erymanthoi are famed for their brute strength and thirst for blood. These hulking simians reek of gore even when immaterial, and favor direct, violent action. In Malfeas, they're often found in positions that let them indulge their instincts: shock trooper, enforcer, shock troopers or enforcers.
Virtues: Ambition (Proving their personal might)/Courage Primary Pool(9): Climbing, Feats of Demolition, Intimidation Secondary Pool(6): Crude Manual Labor, Raucous Song Tertiary Pool (4) Essence: 2 Health Levels: 8 Resolve: 3 Defense: 5 Hardness: 3 Soak: 5
Attacks and Qualities
Murderous Blow (Exalted Essence p. 317), Principle of Motion (Exalted Essence p. 319)
Brutal Pounce: Spend1 Mote. The Blood-Ape makes a withering attack; if it generates 5+ power, the target is knocked prone.
Rending Claws: Spend 1 Mote on Step 6 against a grappled or prone opponent to gain Double-9s on the damage roll. Against a target that is both grappled and prone, gains Double-8s instead.
Erymanthoi tend towards brute force and overwhelming violence, grabbing or knocking over their victims before brutally savaging them. Their hunger for blood leads them to impulsive behavior, even when bound. Summoners with a brutal streak of their own can leverage it to command their loyalty, or at least convince them to obey on pain of death.
Patrok, the Havens of the Wanderers
These demons appear as beautiful mortals with golden eyes and brazen spikes lining their spines. Each Patrok is marked by a sense of grief or emptiness, and wanders the world in eternal pilgrimage, seeking companions to heal its suffering. When it desires, a Patrok may briefly swell to immense size, engulfing another within its ribcage. In most cases, the Patrok acts as a strange, wandering sanctuary, keeping its charge safe within its body. Rarely, the Patrok's charge is exactly who it needs to feel whole. In the case of mortals, the charge merges with the Patrok's body, transmuting into a heart of brass and alabaster. Other beings may face a different fate, as the Patrok grows furiously possessive.
Virtues: Compassion/Wonder Primary Pool(9): Combat Movement, Pleasant Social Company, Protecting Their Charge Secondary Pool(6): Pilgrim Songs, Profile Individual Tertiary Pool (4) Essence: 3 Health Levels: 6 Resolve: 2 Defense: 5 Hardness: 4 Soak: 3
Attacks and Qualities:
Brazen Shelter: Engulf a willing target, protecting it within an armored ribcage. While inside, the Patrok's ward is protected by a reflexive Defend Other action, and benefits from two bonus Soak. Whenever the Patrok moves, its ward is safely carried along.
Perilous Vise: When making a normal grapple attempt, the Patrok may trap its target inside its ribcage, ignoring the Enormous Size quality. The Patrok may take other actions while grappling a target this way, and makes contested grapple rolls reflexively.
Patrok protecting a ward avoid obviously dangerous situations, going so far as to ignore their ward’s wishes to the contrary. Forced into defensive combat by enemy’s pursuit or the commands of a summoner, they attempt to knock enemies down or away so they can extricate themselves as swiftly as possible. When hunting, the Patrok’s demeanor changes entirely, and they will attempt to grapple, vise, and batter even dangerous foes as long as the Patrok senses a chance at victory.
Sesseljae, the Stomach Bottle Bugs
These small, beetle-like demons live to consume filth and poison. In Malfeas, their tastes make them a nuisance to other demons, who tend to see them as vermin at best. While they normally scuttle and hop about, they can also swim through living flesh as though it were water – allowing them to filter toxins from a host's veins or guts. Sesseljae find surgery enjoyable, and take to it with playful glee. Many sorcerers keep them on hand as personal doctors, and insurance against poisoning.
Virtues: Compassion/Courage Primary Pool(9): Medicine, Resist Magical Poison/Disease Secondary Pool(6): Begging for Poison, Singing Tertiary Pool (4) Essence: 3 Health Levels: 6 Resolve: 2 Defense: 5 Hardness: 0 Soak: 3
Attacks and Qualities
Internal Surgery: Spend one mote during a recovery scene to grant a host greater recovery. Spend 2 motes to count a recovery scene as Minor Milestone for the purposes of their host recovering from a Dramatic Injury, once per session.
Poison Sipper: A sesselja's host gains the benefits of Vile Repast as long as it's inside their body. The sesselja suffers any magical poison-based effects in their place.
Shield of Flesh: While inside a body, a sesselja benefits from an automatic, reflexive Defend Other action by its host.
Vile Repast: Sesseljae are immune to nonmagical poison and disease.
Sesseljae scurry to safety at the first sign of trouble, but poison and filth can inspire them to self-destructive cravings. If unable to flee or hide inside someone's body, they'll attack with mandibles or improvised weapons, but only as an absolute last resort. A sesselja will use its Internal Surgery quality on behalf of their host, or anyone else their summoner indicates.
Florivet, the Whim-of-the-Wind, Second Circle Demon
Formerly known as the Masterful Scholar, Florivet cast off his title and took up a life of exploration and adventure. He carved his own skeleton from his flesh, and replaced it with Cecylene-glass struts; he used his bones to craft the Foremost Gale, his prized land ship. Drawn onward by the lure of the unknown, he travels the length and breadth of Malfeas – and Creation, too, when summoned. Mercurial and impulsive, Florivet is as quick to anger as he is to forgive. His fiercest anger is reserved for those who wound his pride. This rage takes form as vitriol within his glass bones. Florivet uses it to scar those who offend him, the better to identify them in the future.
Florivet is lean and tall, with the head of a wolf and the wings, neck, and talons of an owl. Wherever he goes, the wind favors him, often shifting to match his mood. Many air elementals find themselves charmed by his roguish demeanor.
Divine Excellence (Exalted Essence p. 319), Domain's Beneficence (Wind) (Exalted Essence p. 319), Flying, Principle of Motion (Exalted Essence p. 319)
Wastrel's Wanderlust: When aiding a travel venture, following Florivet’s guidance or riding aboard his landship allows the travelers to negate the consequences of cutting corners once per venture, in return for a dramatic scene of the demon carousing or taking a detour to pursue his sudden interests.
Florivet is a bravo at heart, but he still seeks knowledge and new experiences. He can easily be won over with the promise of certain discovery, but his temperament can complicate arrangements if he feels slighted or disappointed. In combat, Florivet typically opens with Domain's Beneficence, which grants him additional offensive and defensive options. He takes full advantage of his flight, attacking foes from above with his bow. If given the opportunity and incentive, he'll attempt trick shots, aiming to hinder his foes while showing off.
Elementals
Ageless spirits embodying Creation’s natural elements, elementals are material spirits found across every Direction.
Fog Brothers
Hundreds of towns and cities are nothing but tumbled ruins, entire nations wiped out in the Contagion. The reclusive brume-giant elementals called Fog-Brothers are drawn to these places, descending from their mist-shrouded mountains to set up homes. Some simply protect these places, baffling travelers and treasure-seekers in endless fog, but more enthusiastic Fog Brothers seek to restore what they imagine was lost, ensnaring travelers to gradually recreate a community in the mist.
The Fog Brother of Buld
Once, Buld was a thriving caravan stop on the edge of the cold Northern Desert. The contagion came, and killed off thousands, and the desert swallowed it, the survivors moving to better lands. Now, it is streets, tumbled houses, and mist. But it is growing. Yeddim trains pass by, and do not leave. The gods of Buld, long since reassigned, hear prayers that they have not heard for generations. And its new citizens freeze and scrape the dry earth and know in their bones they do not belong here.
Immortal (Elemental) (Exalted Essence p. 319), Domain’s Benefience (Exalted Essence p. 319), Domain’s Curse (Exalted Essence p. 319), Enormous Size (Exalted Essence p. 316), Excellency (Exalted Essence p. 318)
Field of Forgotten Dreams: Characters must pass a successful, Difficulty 5 Sagacity, Integrity, or Physique roll to make recovery scenes in a Fog Brother’s territory. Additionally, it is surrounded by a Difficulty 5, 0 damage environmental hazard, that encompasses several miles an interval of “Scenes,” that gives a -2 Penalty of “Uneasy Visions” to mental rolls when failed.
Down From the Mountain: The body of a fog-brother is surrounded by a swirling mist, granting all characters within Long Range concealment to all targets but the Fog-Brother.
Hidden By Time and Thought: Commit 3 motes. The Fog Brother gains +4 Soak, which is reduced by 1 for every Intimacy it possesses that the attacker is aware of. Fog-Brothers have intimacies related to the ruins of the places they inhabit.
Eyes Like Shrouded Suns: Spend 3 motes to make a special gambit with its primary pool to enthrall a target, filling their mind with a memory of a false existence, spending power equal to their Hardness if used in combat. If it surpasses the target’s resolve, they replace their intimacies with a set appropriate to their new life. This lasts until the Fog Brother’s death. Significant characters may roll to resist this each scene and make take a Hard Bargain to act normally in scene.
Fog Brothers protect their villages, and those within their thrall, driving away or enthralling those who would linger. They do not like to see mortals suffer, and employ less powerful elementals, and enthralled animals as protectors, but are jealous and wary of everyone and everything. They are willing to part with those under their enchantments in exchange for the recovery of treasures or scraps of knowledge of the places they protect, but do not do so happily.
Tune in on Tuesday for Ululaya, the Blood-Red Moon (Third Circle Demon) and the Wood Spiders!
In the meantime, have a great weekend, keep spreading the word about this campaign in your social circles and on your social media, and let's unlock our third stretch goal as we race toward the finish line!
With so much to read in the draft manuscripts, I'd sort of lost track as to how long we've been running this campaign, but we're already starting our final week! And with that, it's time to start our Final Week Countdown!
Over the next week I'll be sharing a handful of instruction and review-type posts about Reward Tiers & Add Ons, Stretch Goal reviews, and What Comes Next, so if you've got any process questions or are wondering about how the Crowdfunding steps work, I'm hoping to clarify any remaining questions before we finish. Of course, if you're still wondering about something, please ask and I'll help as best I can.
Final Week Guide
June 15 - Reward Tier & Add On Review
June 16 - Manuscript Preview 3B - Exalted and Supernatural Antagonists
June 17 - Stretch Goal Review
June 18 - Final Day Checklist & What Comes Next
The Campaign ends on June 18th at 2:00 PM Eastern Time... sort of.
We've got a brand new Time Extension Charm and we may be able to manipulate our planned finish line a bit. We're going to try and unleash our Exalted power when we get to the big finale! It's called "OVERTIME MODE" and it allows us to keep the campaign rolling as long as backers are pledging.
Overtime Mode
Overtime Mode extends the campaign past its original end time to give backers a final chance to make their pledge and adds an interesting twist to the end of the campaign. How long will it extend? That’s entirely up to backers: The campaign will keep going for an additional 10 minutes as long as pledges keep coming in – a chain of back-to-back pledges is called the Backer Train. The campaign will end only when the Backer Train stops after a period of 10 minutes passing without any pledges.
You’ll know we’re in Overtime Mode when the campaign’s Backer Train counter displays a bright rainbow border and a new countdown that resets to 10 minutes after each new backer joins that final Backer Train ride.
So, we've scheduled the campaign to conclude on June18th at 2:00 pm Eeastern Time, but it'll be extended in 10 minute chunks as long as backers keep pledging. Will we add an extra 10 minutes? An extra 20? Or will it all finish up as we programmed? Who knows, but we'll find out together! Exalted indeed!
Sparking New Backers
I know, this is something I've already said many times (and seem to say during every project!), but for this final week, you are officially an Essential Influencer for this Crowdfunding project. It's time to share your excitement for the Exalted: Essence Storyteller's Guide! Basically, we want to recruit as many curious backers as possible to see how long we can keep our Backer Train running over this final week.
I know I've ended many update posts with "Keep spreading the word! Invite others to join in!" - but what does that mean, and how do you do it?
Easy answer - don't stop talking about the ExEss STG until 2:01 PM Eastern next Thursday June 18th (and then as long as we continue running in Overtime Mode). Yes, family and friends are tired of me talking about it. But what else have I got to talk about? Sports. Sports is the answer. Anyway - they've learned to tolerate me during a crowdfunding campaign. But here's the thing - there are others around who haven't heard or don't know about the campaign.
There are many, many Onyx Path and Exalted fans who haven't yet heard about this campaign and would love to join in. We're right in the middle of the latest chaos storm - tons of different things competing for our attention - so it's not surprising that new backers are just finding out about the campaign every day. If you have an opportunity to let someone know, please do and let's make sure they have a chance to join in before the end.
Onyx Path does their best to let everyone know about their projects through their social media, streams, youtube videos, and on their webpage, but I still get fans contacting me affer every campaign saying they just missed out! And even though you will be able to pre-order the book through the Pledge Manager later, late backers won't be able to Add On the Storyteller's Supplement that we've built via Stretch Goal achievement to their pre-order items.
So, let's help out our awesome Exalted: Essence fans and make sure that we've spread the word as best we can and everyone has an opportunity to participate in this campaign!
Draft Manuscript
If you're inviting new backers, or if you are a new backer (hi new backers!), here are a few key resources to be aware of for this campaign.
Backers are able to review the (soon-to-be) complete manuscript for this book before the campaign closes and any pledges are processed. With the exception of the back half of Chapter 3 coming on Tuesday, the entirety of the advice, systems, and options from this book are available for download and review by backers. That's a massive pile of alternate rules, options, story-building plans, and antagonists and more for your Exalted!
Anyone who pledges to this campaign before the end can read the entire book now AND provide feedback directly to the developers to help guide the manuscript through the final phases of development and editing!
And, if you join now, as I've noted, we'll be posting the final half of chapter 3 of the book next week before we reach the finish line. This final chapter is all about Exalted and Supernatural antagonists. In fact, here's a taste of what's coming your way next week:
Dragon Kings
Dragon Kings are survivors of an ancient race, once allies of the Exalted, now scattered with little memories of their past glory. Dragon Kings begin life as feral youths, roaming the wilds as packs; most die from violence or deprivation in these early days. Those who make it to adulthood begin to regain human-like intelligence, speech and tool-use, but it takes much longer for memories of their past lives to come back; most sapient Dragon Kings eke out lives as simple hunter-gatherers or as scavengers in their ancient ruins. Only a few, whether ancient sleepers awakened into the Second Age or adults who survive many decades cultivating their Essence, manage to reclaim their ancient heritage.
Variant: Feral Youth
Young Dragon Kings are aggressive, predatory beasts of surprising cunning, easily able to overpower human warriors. Feral Youths cannot change their clade and do not walk upright; Ankloks are quadrupedal, heavily armored beasts, Mosoks are serpentine water-dwellers with shortened limbs, Pteroks walk on the claws of their leathery wings when not aloft, and Raptoks are lithe, bipedal, hunched-over creatures with bright feathers keeping their long foreclaws close to their chests.
Virtues: Courage/Ambition (Assert Dominance) Primary Pool(8): Tracking, Fighting, Flying or Running or Swimming or Resist Environment Secondary Pool(6): Intimidate, Senses, Stealth Tertiary Pool (4) Essence: 1 Health Levels: 7 Resolve: 3 Defense: 5 Hardness: 4 Soak: 5
Attacks and Qualities
Enormous Size (Anklok) (Exalted Essence p. 316), Harrier and Opportunistic Threat (Raptok) (Exalted Essence p. 320)
Flowing Form (Mosok): Mosoks always qualify for stealth while underwater.
Soaring Form (Pterok): Pteroks gain double-9s on movement rolls while in the air, but are hindered while on the ground.
Breath of Clarity (All): When a character uses a Charm or other magical ability in the Dragon King’s presence, it rolls Senses at Difficulty 3 to become aware of it. Success does not inform it of the magic’s nature but heightens its aggression.
Feral Dragon Kings are highly territorial. They use threat displays to ward off intruders, but those who do not heed the warnings are attacked with overwhelming violence. Feral Dragon Kings are undersocialized juveniles lacking their normal teaching structures and do not behave like normal predators: they are aggressive to the point of recklessness, their pack structures are confused and shaped by violence, and they are drawn to places that resonate with their past lives. Displays of magic stir a remembrance of what they lost, which they find painful and drives them to greater hostility.
Exalted: Essence Chat
The Discord is particularly lively, but you might be able to gain further insight and some in-depth conversation at any of these Onyx Path discussion zones:
1) Don't forget to share a link to the Crowdfunding page in any discussion you have (where appropriate) - and feel free to pass any of the long list of links above to those who may need more info (or, just point them to this post!)
2) Don't forget to tell us about any post or review or discussion you write! Come to the comments section and let us know so we can all go and contribute! I know I keep saying it, but really - these last days are key. Keep the enthusiasm high and keep on inviting others to join in, either directly ("Come see...") or just by setting an example of your enthusiasm and interest.
I'm really interested to see if we can get a backer train going at the end of the campaign and wondering if we can keep rolling for another 10 or 20 minutes past our set end time!
Final Week
We've got one week to go, everyone! Thank you all so much for your support! We work together because it's the right thing to do, and because backers make it better! Let's finish strong! And let's continue exploring the possiblities of Exalted: Essence together, sharing our feedback with the writers and delving into the draft manuscript, and let's see if we can't get another Stretch Goal before we review next Wednesday!
At $60,000 in Funding - Antagonists from the Threshold
Exalted: Essence Storyteller's Supplement - Antagonists from the Threshold - The Stretch Goal built storyteller's supplement will be expanded to include antagonists that could be found in or related to the Threshold.
At $70,000 in Funding - Adventures in the Threshold
Exalted: Essence Storyteller's Supplement - Adventures in the Threshold - A set of plot hooks, scenario ideas, and perhaps story outlines set in and around the Threshold will be added to the Exalted Essence Storyteller's supplement being built by Stretch Goal achievements.
Have a great Friday and weekend, keep spreading the word, send the developers your feedback using the Feedback Form included with every draft manuscript download update. I'll share a sneak peek at the next manuscript tomorrow, and I'll be back on Monday to review all of the Pledge Tier options and Add On Reward choices!
We finish this campaign NEXT THURSDAY! Let's keep at it!
Yesterday we received the first half of Chapter 3, which contains guidelines for antagonists and many, many examples of interesting mortals and strange beasts.
But we wanna see some Exalted opponents, am I right?
Well, let's get a sneak peek at next week's draft manuscript download. As a reminder, backers will be able to read the entire draft manuscript before the end of the campaign - before any pledges are processed or payments collected. So jump on it if you haven't!
The Exalted
Often the greatest foes and strongest allies of the Exalted are others amongst their number.
Black Ice Shadow
Black Ice Shadow is as cultivated as a winter blossom. The ghost-blooded Sidereal is the result of decades of subtle interference and intensive training under the Bureau of Endings. Black Ice Shadow’s birth was thrice marked by endings: an elder Sidereal’s suicide, the birth-caul of a child of the dead, and sightings of Saturn throughout Creation. Deathly focused gods, enlightened shades, and Sidereal clandestinely infiltrated local temples teaching the child mysteries of the Underworld. His exaltation severed what few threads bound Black Ice Shadow to mortal life, and he spent years cultivated his deathly heritage in bleak Manses and Shadowlands.
Time spent among the living has softened the Sidereal’s severe demeanor but done nothing to assure those in the Five-Score Fellowship who question the loyalty of a Sidereal who’s nature is so tied to Heaven’s enemies. Black Ice Shadow spies on Shadowlands and Underworld cities in a myriad of guises. His most elaborate ruse is as an amnesiac Abyssal entitled Taste of Ashes Lingering Beyond Extinction. The Sidereal recently connected rumors circulating of an unaccountable power locked within a First Age tomb, to records of an ancient ghost entombed with sorcery, and he’s moving to interdict Scavenger Lords or Exalts before someone looses the dreadful entity.
Virtues: Discipline/ Wonder Primary Pool(10): Martial Arts and Infiltration Secondary Pool(7): Posing as the Dead; Underworld Secrets Tertiary Pool (4) Essence: 3 Motes: 10 Health Levels: 7 Resolve: 3 Defense: 4 Hardness: 4 Soak: 4
Attacks and Qualities
Excellency: Spend one mote to add five dice to a primary pools action or four dice to a secondary pool action.
Heroic: Black Ice Shadow will flee and take on a new cover identity at zero Health levels, but will take a dramatic injury to continue fighting in order to stop a Creature of Darkness.
Sidereal Chosen of Endings: Black Ice Shadow possesses all advantages and anima powers of a Sidereal Chosen of Endings.
Initiate: Black Ice Shadow knows First Circle Necromancy.
Murderous Blow: Against the demon, fae, undead, Getimians, Abyssals, and Infernals, gain 3 additional damage.
Higher Up the Chain: In an emergency he’ll call on his mentor, Wayang, the God of Silence, an Essence 5 Celestial God (Exalted: Essence p.344).
Solemn Psychopomp Duty: The Exalts spends 1 mote to consecrate a death, the soul cannot be trapped or become a ghost. Black Ice Shadow learns their Intimacies, and gains a new secondary ability for the rest of the Story. They may summon the fallen’s ghost as a secondary Ally for one scene.
Violet Bier of Sorrows Style: Black Ice Shadow commits 2 motes targets struck may not use reflexive movement until the end of their next turn, and attacks do aggravated damage. Spend 1 mote on Step 2 to add one to Defense, if successful, add two extra dice on the next withering attack and double 9s.
Masque of the Uncanny: The Exalt commits 2 motes, perfectly assuming the guise of an Abyssal or ghost, this changes even Charm use and Anima. This requires a Stealth roll opposed by the Exalt’s Secondary Pool to overcome the illusion.
Necromancy Spells: For 4 Will, Black Ice Shadow may open a doorway to the Underworld for the rest of the scene or 3 rounds in combat.
Black Ice Shadow is a superlative imposter of the dead, rarely breaking cover, and retreating if conditions are disadvantageous, as a last resort fleeing into the Underworld. His preferred method is to set terrain with necromantic curses that inflict the hindered penalty or increase bleeding for living foes as an environmental hazard he’s immune to. The Exalt tries to disable and disarm rather than kill, unless the enemy’s discovered his identity. He frequently summons ghosts as backup. The Sidereal will work with any who provide him with firsthand accounts of deathknights or the deathlords’ agendas.
Merel Of-the-Gourd (Dragon-Blooded, Wood Aspect)
Merel wanders the Threshold, offering salvation in the form of preventative sickness. He carries gardens of alchemical spores in lacquered gourds, releasing tuned plagues that burn through a community, culling the weak while granting the survivors immunity—and a dependence on his ongoing treatments. To him, this is mercy. He speaks gently as fevers rise, assuring the afflicted that pain is proof of worthiness. Villages he “heals” survive future outbreaks, but only so long as they submit to the next round of plague-fire.
Virtues: Compassion (Better To Die Under The Care of a Physician Than Live in Agony)/ Ambition Primary Pool(10): Medicine, Poisons, Disease Cultivation Secondary Pool(8): Solving Puzzles, Soothing Fears, Self-Defense Tertiary Pool (6) Essence: 2 Motes: 7 Health Levels: 8 Resolve: 4 Defense: 4 Hardness: 4 Soak: 3
Attacks and Qualities
Controlled Epidemic: Two infection sites bloom in the village. Commit 2 motes per site. The Dragon-Blood may see and hear through anyone within them. Each site spreads a supernatural disease: characters damaged by or present in the area during combat must succeed at a Fortitude + Physique roll during their turn or lose 2 Power. The area is difficult terrain. Those who succeed gain +2 dice vs. disease for the session but become treatment-dependent. Investigators may spend 1 mote per question (location, creator, source). Each failed attempt advances an infection clock; at 3 advances, dependence becomes a Major Principle. Ends after Essence + Finesse days or when both sites are destroyed.
Excellency: Spend 1 mote. Add a four-dice bonus to a roll using his primary pool, or three dice to his secondary pools.
Toxin-and-Venom Exorcism: When treating poisoned or diseased patients, success cures them and grants immunity to that specific affliction for the session.
Wood Aspect Dragon-Blooded: Possesses all advantages and anima powers of Wood Aspect Dragon-Blooded.
His lair is a greenhouse laboratory at the village edge, with villager-dug tunnels giving him multiple escape routes. About eighty people remain; thirty have died, and thirty are “cured”—immune but dependent on quarterly treatments. These devotees defend him as a Size 2, Drill 1 battle group with +1 die on social actions for Merel. Investigation reveals he emerges when infection sites are disturbed.
Merel uses Controlled Epidemic's sensory network to monitor the party's movements and conversations through infected villagers, coordinating devotee ambushes and repositioning himself via the tunnels. When the party approaches an infection site, he observes through nearby infected individuals to determine their intentions. If they destroy a true site, devotees emerge from houses and alleys to attack from cover while Merel fires poisoned darts from tunnel entrances or rooftops, then retreats before direct engagement.
If the party destroys a false site, Merel watches through his network to confirm they've moved on, then emerges at night to poison a replacement location, either personally or by using a devoted villager he's already instructed. Observant parties may notice infected villagers moving purposefully toward specific locations after dark, or Merel himself slipping between buildings with his gourds. Once all true infection sites are eliminated and his sensory advantage is lost, he makes his final stand at the greenhouse, fighting desperately with devotees as his last line of defense.
Of the four possible sites, choose two currently infectious. All detection rolls are difficulty 3, and failures can produce inconclusive or misleading results.
Possible Infection Sites
The well (water-borne). Detect: A faint, putrid smell and off-putting color (Sagacity or Navigate). Cleanse: Purify (Sagacity) or destroy/cover the pump).
The granary (food-borne). Detect: The grain subtly expands and contracts (Awareness). Cleanse: Fire (Physique or Survival to control the burn) or recall a safe spore-neutralizing method (Sagacity).
The limpid pool (blood-borne). Detect: See the mosquito larvae in the water (Awareness or Navigate). Cleanse: Disrupt mosquito larvae (Navigate) or use an appropriate poison to kill the swarm (Sagacity).
he rotting hay pile (fungal). Detect: See visible mold and unnatural decay (Awareness, Navigate, or Sagacity). Cleanse: Burn it safely (Physique or Navigate) to control the blaze and suppress spore release.
Merel prefers to hide in his lair, in the tunnels, or in the houses of his devotees rather than fight. His devotees attack whenever a true infection site is destroyed, striking from cover. If the heroes destroy the wrong site, he avoids direct conflict and quietly poisons another location to replace it, either directly or with one of the conscripted villagers acting secretly (Soldier template, Exalted Essence p. 331). He only abandons subterfuge and fights openly — and to the death — once all genuine infection sites have been eliminated.
Tomorrow, we start our FINAL WEEK COUNTDOWN. Can you believe we're gonna have one week left? I'll share some important reminders and info to review before the end and outline our final week schedule. On Friday, we'll get another sneak peek from our draft manuscript section coming the following Tuesday. We're gonna see some demons and elementals!
So, let's rally up and finish week 3 and then rush headfirst into the big final week and see if we can't unlock some baddies from the Threshold in our stretch goal supplement!
Has everyone recovered from a weekend of Onyx Path panels and games? The biggest Exalted news was on the Third Edition main side, where they revealed that a Liminals book is coming, to help catch up those rules a bit with the Essence side! We've already got Liminals in our core rulebook and expanded in the Player's Guide, but more lore is always welcome!
Hopefully there will be a lore-heavy stretch goal companion too that we can all enjoy!
But enough about the possibilities of the future, for we have adversaries and opponents to challenge us in the here and now!
It's Tuesday, and that means it's draft manuscript day. This is the first half of Chapter 3. We've had a few sneak peeks at foes and creatures presented in this section, but now it's fully filled in. Chapter 3: Antagonists begins with the Machinations of Doom, including best practices for designing and using enemies, before introducing the Ferocious Teeming Legions. Part A, which we get today, is all about the Interesting Mortals and Weird Creatures that you can add to your Exalted: Essence game.
Let's go!
Draft Manuscript Previews
Over the course of these 4 weeks, backers will receive the entire current draft manuscript for Exalted: Essence Storyteller's Guide, but it's not going to come to you all in one go. The previews will come out in Tuesday-sized sections each week of the campaign. This helps me seem interesting over the next 28 days, but it's more about guiding the conversation and helping steer feedback for the developers.
Because they want your feedback! These manuscript previews are of the current draft manuscript – the document in its latest, approved form. This may not be the final form after editing and any additional development, but you can consider it about 95% finished, so keep that in mind.
In fact, you can help guide the team through the next stages of development by providing feedback on these manuscript previews! The Onyx Path team has set up a special Feedback Form just for campaign backers for this very purpose: <Exalted: Essence Storyteller's Guide Feedback Form>
You can use this FEEDBACK FORM to share your thoughts directly with the Exalted: Essence creative team to help guide them through the next rounds of development and editing.
DRAFT MANUSCRIPT PREVIEWS - BACKERS ONLY
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OK, we had a little preview yesterday of some of the Interesting Mortals in the Exalted: Essence Storyteller's Guide, and today we're going to get a sneak peek preview of three of the Strange Beasts from Chapter 3.
Again, these are just bits from the first half of Chapter 3, which will be coming to backers in a draft manuscript download next Tuesday. All backers will be able to read the entire book before any pledges are processed or payments collected. And if you back this, you'll have something cool to talk about during Onyx Path's Virtual Convention over the weekend.
If you want information on current and possible future Exalted projects, I'd suggest checking out:
What's Up with Onyx Path on Saturday June 6 at Noon EDT
The Exalted Panel on Saturday June 6 at 6:00 PM EDT
Ask Us Anything Panel on Sunday June 7 at 2:00 PM EDT
Somewhere in there, Rich will reveal what the end of the year crowdfunder for Exalted will be. I can't wait - I'm as excited as anyone to find out!
Strange Beasts
Creatures that are neither mortal nor God, but still may prove dangerous to the Exalted all the same.
Ape-bears
The fruit of forgotten hybridization experiments, ape-bears have bodies and heads like those of brown bears, though slightly more elongated, and are recognizable by their long, thick arms terminating in fingered hands. Their knuckle-walk gives them a distinctive gait that towers over humans. They live in colonies of up to twenty individuals in the forest areas of the inner Blessed Isle, mainly Lord’s Crossing, Eseon Forest, and the flanks of the Imperial Mountain. Ape-bears are placid, curious individuals outside mating season, spending much of their time either at rest or observing their surroundings. They sometimes approach rural settlements and, while they lack language, they are intelligent enough to establish reciprocal relationships such as scaring off predators in exchange for food deposited at the village entrance every week. In some remote places of the Isle, the ‘village ape-bear' was still recently a familiar and dependable fixture. Dynasts have been known to tame and train the beasts into powerful battle companions. But after several incidents in which a village’s ape-bear took offense to a Dynast’s actions, peasants are no longer permitted to harbor or feed the beasts, which has caused much tension in places traditionally relying on them for protection and driven now-rejected ape-bears irate; rural envoys petition in vain for House Cathak to allow them their bear-appeasing rites again.
Ape-bears are Monstrous dangerous animals (Exalted: Essence p.324) with the Enormous and Murderous Blow Qualities. On a withering attack that generates 2+ Power, they may reflexively initiate a grapple. This counts towards the action limit.
Ape-bears are valid Secondary Familiars and can be trained to wield simple weapons.
Furnace Rhino
Created at the dawn of history to serve as living refineries of the magical materials, furnace rhinos were left behind when the Great Maker departed Creation. They still dwell in Southern deserts and the hills of Gem, grazing on rocks and scrap metal. Eight feet tall and recognizable by their folded, platelike hide of metal, furnace rhinos concentrate trace amounts of magical materials into their horns, which come to be made of solid jade or more rarely other magical materials. Though a furnace rhino’s horn is of fabulous value, the beasts radiate deadly heat and have a fierce temperament, and most hunts suffer casualties even when successful.
Primary Pool(7): Hard-headed Aggression, Batter Down Obstacles Secondary Pool(6): Find Scrap, Detect Ambush Tertiary Pool (4) Health Levels: 9 Essence: 2 Resolve: 3 Defense: 4 Hardness: 6 Soak: 6
Attacks and Qualities
Enormous Size (Exalted Essence p. 316), Oppressive (Exalted Essence p. 317)
Furnace Body: The furnace rhino radiates unbearable heat. Characters at close range are exposed to a hazard equivalent to a burning building (Exalted: Essence, p.146), and at short range to a hazard equivalent to severe heat.
Iron Like Straw: Attacks against a furnace rhino reduce their overwhelming value by one. This can reduce it to zero, which makes attempts to hunt furnace rhinos with mundane spears or arrows largely futile.
Deadly Treasure: The horns of a furnace rhino contain enough magical material of one type to create an artifact weapon or suit of armor. Every piece of the animal’s body is valuable, but it must be butchered red-hot (severe heat hazard); once cooled down it becomes a solid lump of mingled minerals weighing several tons.
Furnace rhinos are highly territorial. Their poor eyesight causes them to register most things as threats, and they respond to attacks by running down the enemy to gore and trample them. Furnace rhinos can be acquired as Familiars by someone who can resist their heat, in which case they can be taught to grudgingly endure the presence of others; they are sometimes kept as war-mounts by ifrit lords.
Ravenous Ash
When the Wyld swallowed the borders of Creation, many elementals were trapped in chaos. Most died, a few warped in unwholesome ways. But a few garda birds in the South suffered both fates: They died in fiery wrath, but as their immortal Essence sought to rekindle itself, it found that it was trapped in a liminal state of ash and embers that could not become fire. The ravenous ashes still haunt the Far South, no longer elementals but something stranger: living clouds of smoke, ash and embers in the vague outline of birds, desperate for the heat that might rekindle their Essence. They seek it by draining the breath of living beings, but it never suffices. Draining a live fire elemental increases the ravenous ash’s size, power and hunger, but it’s never been enough to release them from their state.
Primary Pool(9): Fly, Extinguish Flame, Fight with Abandon, Seek Heat Secondary Pool(7): Lay Low, Remember Past, Speak Language Tertiary Pool (5) Essence: 3 Motes: 10 Health Levels: 10 Resolve: 3 Defense: 4 Hardness: 5 Soak: 5
Attacks and Qualities
Oppressive (Exalted Essence p. 317), Spiritual Combat (Exalted Essence p. 317), Domain’s Curse (Ash) (Exalted Essence p. 319), Elemental Vortex (Ash) (Exalted Essence p. 320)
Body of Cinder: Ravenous ashes do not take damage from mundane weapons. They reduce damage and Overwhelming by one except from water- and wind-based attacks and area of effect attacks, which instead add +2 damage.
Immortal: Ravenous ashes reconstitute after being destroyed over the course of days unless slain by magic capable of slaying spirits, as ash gathers upon the wind. Gathering their cinder into an urn and throwing it into a body of water prevents this.
Eater of Warmth: Spend 1 mote when initiating a grapple. Withering attacks also inflict one damage, and successful decisive attacks cause the ravenous ash to heal one health, two if attacking with 5+ Power. Against fire-based spirits, ignore Hardness and Soak.
Ravenous ashes are driven by their perpetual hunger for warmth. They understand Old Realm and can speak it but can only communicate for a short time before being overcome by their hunger. They can be diverted with offers of easier or more tempting targets. In combat, they choose one specific target and attempt to incapacitate them with grappling and Eater of Warmth. Once they have incapacitated a victim, they are temporarily sated and usually withdraw. No ravenous ash has ever been rekindled into their garda bird forms, but it might be possible through external assistance, such as Sorcery, a potent Artifact, or a living Exalt’s sacrifice.
Alright! I'll be back on Tuesday with our manuscript download for the first half of Chapter 3.
Between now and then, please check out Onyx Path's Virtual Gaming Convention this weekend, and make sure to check in on the Exalted panel! And then talk about it in the comments here and on Discord!
