Exalted/Godbound: The Age of Brass

Oh, Exalted: my eternal love-hate relationship of liking more the ideas of a game than any execution and certainly disliking the mechanical end of it all. Every few months my mind is inevitably drawn back to it either by something or by someone mentioning or discussing the game, reigniting my endless love-to-hate/hate to love feeling for the game. That's just the way it is for me, it seems.

Exalted: The Third Age

Artist unknown.

The best way to use Exalted, in my eyes, is to reuse the setting but at the same time wipe the slate clean. This may appear a bit counterproductive, but my primary issue with Exalted (okay well, to be fair I have so many issues its hard to list them all, let alone put them in order!) is that its interesting concepts are invariably screwed over by having too much lore written for it. I get that said lore is obviously the appeal but the issue of a setting being too written about is that it never seem to leave much room for a Game Master to interpret and use things in a way beneficial to his game. There need to be space to make shit up.

The name 'Age of Brass' come from the final comic in Return of the Scarlet Empress, which I've discussed before and called the second worst thing to happen to Exalted. It might seem strange to create a hypothetical take on Exalted which follows the events of the Second Edition metaplot I so often malign but the possible list of events described and outlined in that book are designed to utterly shake Creation and break it. As a result it makes a rather good starting point. The main ideas are as follow:

• The Yozi attempted the Reclamation with their Infernal Exalted. While it did temporarily 'work' in a manner of speaking and did immense damage to Creation, this 'second Primordial War' ultimately still ended in a victory for Heaven. At a price.
• Most of the powerful NPC are long dead and/or missing in some shape or form. All 100 Sidereals ended up dead either before, during or after the Reclamation. This mean there is not a single Sidereal alive in the Third Age who wasn't born after it.
• The same applies to all other Celestial Exalted. All Solars died during the second Primordial War or they became one of the few survivors, who then were killed by some other threat in the era of reconstruction that followed. No Solar or Lunar exist today that wasn't Exalted in at the very least the aftermath of it.
• A sizable portion of the already low in number Infernal Exalted are now lost, their Exaltations having been captured during or after the war and returned to their original Solar parameters. The remaining few (less than ten) Infernals are the 'neutral' Devil-Tigers, which are Primordials 2.0.
• The map has changed quite a bit from the ensuing damage, changes and then repair made to Creation. However the five Elemental poles remain.
• The original Realm has been dissolved and the Scarlet Empress is dead, having been turned into the new Earth Pole as eternal penance. There are competing forces of Terrestrials who would want to return either the Realm or Shogunate or something similar.
• Heaven is a mess with most Gods dead and thus replaced by their successors, some of them former mortals or even dead Exalt (previously Ghosts, now elevated to proper Spirit status). Heaven is ever-busy, messy and generally unlikely to ever assemble. Basically, beside calling personal favor if they can, PC cannot count on Yu-Shan and the Incarnae to fix any mess.
• Creation is not ruled by any singular force: there are scattered domains ruled by Exalted, some by Gods eager to retake their role now that the Immaculate Faith is fading, some places are Shadowlands ruled by ancient Ghosts and others are 'garden', invaded by the Fae/Raksha.

This new Creation is an even more broken and diminished one compared to the Second Age but that doesn't mean hope cannot spring eternal. With the few surviving Yozis locked back in their prison and the Ebon Dragon gone (but is he really dead?), this new era of Creation is more open to sandboxing.

The Missing Exaltations

In Second Edition, the total and exact number of each Exalted type was given. In order to return a sense of mystery, such knowledge is lost in the Third Age. When the Solar, Lunar and even rogue Abyssals went to war against the rising threat of the Reclamation, most of them perished in the conflict. While their Exaltations did return to Heaven in some capacity, many more have become missing. Exaltations are believed to be indestructible but it is known they can be contained. Some have speculated that the dying Primordials could have uttered a second Great Curse while others believe these Exaltations are simply 'trapped' in the death throes of dying Yozis, especially the Ebon Dragon's black hole-like corpse which at one point covered the land in such metaphysical darkness and deceit that no one can even remember who it was that struck the blow which finally killed him. Or perhaps cowards fled into the Wyld rather than fight and simply never returned. Who can say?

The Sidereals are the only ones fully accounted for in numbers, being fated and all that stuff. However even their ranks are diminished as the loss of old factions and mentors have scattered them, with many younger Sidereals now pursuing their own agenda, often in defiance to a lot of other factors. Meanwhile most Infernals are gone, having been destroyed and their Exaltations taken back by Heaven to return to their Solar selves, safe for the remaining Devil-Tigers which will be detailed in a bit. To recap:

• Nobody knows how many Solar, Abyssal and Lunars are left. There might be one or two original Infernals around but that is unlikely.
• Sidereals aren't remotely united, many of them having gone rogue.

The Devil-Tigers and Asura

Art by Peter Mohrbacher

The Devil-Tigers were heretical Infernals, who came to resent their hellish masters and sought to transcend. Heretical Infernal Charms allowed them to reshape their own nature, powers and even Exaltation while also allowing them to create sub-souls like a Yozi. Befitting a slightly more optimistic take on Exalted, the Devil-Tigers are a neutral force in Creation, allowed to exist with the somewhat reluctant agreement of Heaven, even if the two clash just about every single day. Across Creation are pocket empire, cults or other organization and structures centered around the Devil-Tigers, the transcendent ones and the great Asuras. The name is taken from the pre-imprisonment name of Demons, which was Devas, as a nod to Hindu mythology. These beings are the New Titans, quite limited in power and scope compared to their predecessors but still dangerous to face. They are a new power in Creation, one which no one is really sure what exactly it will create in the long run.

The Devil-Tigers are the reincarnated Infernal Exalted whose Exaltation has become redefined by their own nature. They are exultant beings, newborn embodiment of Human will, desire and thoughts ascended to cosmic heights. Wherever their influence spread, the world is slowly reshaped either by their own hand or that of their Asuran sub-souls. The best way to explain them would be to see them as the Neutral or Chaotic Neutral alignment, in a way. They are capable of great feat of rage and destruction as much as grandiose feat of love and passion, creating wars as much as they destroy empires to usher in new peace in a region. Their purpose is to be a 'wild card' distinct from Heaven, the Underworld or the Wyld. Each of them is very much their own Faction and they can be allies just as much as they can become a major antagonist. Some of them work (with great difficulty) with Heaven an other Exalted to help push back ever growing tides of the Wyld, while others seek only material gain and to expand their would-be Empire because that is the nature they have chosen. Yet, fortunately for all, Devil-Tigers being born of once-human beings mean they are tied to Creation and human nature. Which, perhaps, is their only weakness?