OoC [Exalted 3e] The Pirates of the Gilded Throne

[Dietaku]

This is the OoC thread for the Pirates of the Gilded Throne game, as the title implies.

Now, the initial beginning point of the chronicle will be the lonely atoll of Flotsam, a pirate and privateer town situated about a hundred miles east of Champoor, Settled about six hundred years by ne'er-do-wells, the series of islands has in the past century become unified in a way by the Duke of Flotsam, an extremely wealthy and adventurous man by the name of Fernando de la Gabraza, and also a vassal of the Tyrant of the trade nation of Dhaam-Bel, localed on the island of Dhaam-Bel about two hundred miles southeast of Flotsam. The weahter is warm and mild in the summer, and gets blustery and cool in the winter, as the Sirocco blows east off the Burning Sands, whipping the Dreaming Seas into consternation. Because of this mild weather, agriculture of a sort flourishes, as does the propagation of all manners of recreational drugs, prompting a lively trading scene, both here in Flotsam and in Dhaam-Bel.

I hope that helps set the stage for the game. If there's anything in particular you wish to know about the local area, I'll be happy to provide, within reason, of course.

[wtaylorjr2001]

Scholar of the Golden Owl

Bio: Anyone interested can take part in this backstory, you are all welcome. Alabaster is a port town, rich in craftsmen and metals.

Scholar of the Golden Owl is the name given to the newest master weaponsmith in Alabaster. He was an orphan and the towns main armorer took him in and taught him his trade. He showed promise from the beginning. He loved the work so much his teacher taught him to use a sword that he would soon be creating. He worked hard those early years and became a world class craftsman. He preferred armor to other types of crafting until he read a book about mystical artifacts.

Everything was going well until his teacher died of a heart attack and he inherited the shop. It was hard at first, filling in for someone who would never return. But he found himself growing into the task. He became so good that he was given a contract to supply Alabasters militia indefinitely. He made great armor.

He worked for the city state of Alabaster Keep, and at night he worked on his dream project. He created a weapon he would ask the dragon blooded mages to enchant for him. He knew a little bit about magic but not enough to actually do something. The Fae came then.

There was wanton destruction all around him. One of the Behemoths tore down the front gate to the city and Fae poured in. He saw monsters large and small killing anything they came across. There were children hiding under the corpse of what had to be, at once, their mother.

Scholar donned his armor, grabbed a sword and ran to do battle. It was confusion. Someone was yelling orders but Scholar didn't know who the orders were for. Blood and bodies were everywhere. His heart stopped when he saw his frightened little sister running towards him calling his name. He saw a Fae, on top of a huge mount aiming for her.

The Sun flared. He heard a voice calling his name and he felt a presence on his forehead. His body was glowing all over. He heard the words I am the Unconquered Sun and I choose you. He was filled with an energy that he knew not where it had come from. He raced to engage the Fae. There were other people glowing just like him. They were far from him so he engaged the Fae.

Scholar was good with a blade, but the Fae was better. Scholar tried his fastest head slices but was blocked at every turn. The monster was just too fast. This new energy was doing nothing for him because he didn't know how to use it. Then, by reflex, he found himself pouring that energy into his sword and sword arm. He found himself blocking the faes attacks as if they were in slow motion. He fed more energy into the attack this time and found that he was able to score a hit against the creature. He did it again, and the fae went all defensive.

The Fae ran and so did Scholar . The fae, wounded and sluggish rode for the gate. Scholar ran for his little sister. She took one loot at his forehead and called him an Anathema. He grabbed her and dragged her to safety. He ran out and continued to fight. He fought alongside the other glowing people. As he fought another fae went for his sister. It was there that he lost her. He lost his sister but gained friends and acquaintances. Shining Topaz and Laughter on Winds became known to him. Laughter was a regular for trade with Alabasters merchants and Scholar.

The Fae withdrew and Scholar of the Golden Owl followed. After about three hours he lost track of them, they used some sort of magic. He lost the Fae and his sister, but he found Shimbola, a spirit fated to train him. He went back to Alabaster and filled his wagon with ore and ingots he had for crafting, and as quickly as possible he left Alabaster for good. For the next few weeks he found himself improving in just about every way possible. There were several minor gods of learning and teaching who trained him. They focused on Melee attacks and parrying attacks. This was to prepare him for the Wyld Hunt. There were spirits of teaching there who helped a lot. He learned to craft with only his will. A few weeks less than six months Shimbola pronounced him ready to defend himself adequately from the hunt.

On his way out his teacher handed him a map to a First Age Manse with a Warstrider. Shimbola taught him to attune himself to the Warstrider, It was heavily damaged and in need or repair. There were other things in the manse, such as a hearthstone to power the Warstrider.

Scholar followed the map for two weeks until he found the manse deep in an eastern jungle. The warstrider, the All Conquering Colossus was in a state of disrepair and though it could move, it could do little else. He didn't know what to do with it. In its present state, nations would battle each other for it. He remembered the one known as Laughter Upon Breeze and took a month to send a message to him via a summoned bird. During that time he repaired the giant swords the Colossus would use. This sorcerous working found Laughter and delivered the message. Shimbola also taught him the basics of how to pilot the war strider, how to apply his knowledge of swordsmanship and melee to the Colossus. Scholar was not very good, he would need practice in it. It was not long then before the warstrider was stashed in the cargo hold of Laughter's ship.

Scholar then needed tools and material to fix both the warstrider and in the future, the ship that bore them. He went back to Alabaster to get his tools and raw materials that was in his shop. He then went on seeking the Fae that had his sister using his knowledge of the Fae and the Wyld, and the power of his magic. Sorcerous working after working and he narrowed his options to the most likely place she was kept. He worked his passage on the ship as an engineer. In his free time he worked on the war strider and in the time he owed Laughter, he cooked the food, maintained the ship, created clothes for the crew, repaired weapons and armor, and was a general handyman.

And so the game begins ...
..

The following is a work in progress, I am still writing the Bio and the sheet is not yet done.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XB...IB9H8RA6v17C7u

[angryicecream]

Laughter Upon Breeze Eclipse Caste

"Sharin' time, is it? Well, alright." he says, taking a heavy swig from his canteen. "Used to be a navyman. Proper gentleman, I was. Spent me youth life livin' by the rules of other men. Ya know what it got me? Scars and missed opportunities. Wasn't til I started doin' things my own blasted way that the way became clear. Once I finally relaxed and started comin in to me own, got taken up the ranks of the navy. Still had to follow orders time to time but mostly left to me own devices when it mattered. Had a soul born for the sea and the up and up could tell. Few years of that and hitting every port in Terek and beyond, using the war ships to smuggle, uh, monitored, goods around. Just tryin to avoid the tax man is all. But, those are adventures for another time. Few months back, I got called home, apparently our king's daughter went and turned Anathema. Unfortunately, you see, and don't let Topaz hear this, girl's real protective of her daddy's memory, but the man was a touch of a moron. Went and told the nobles of Prasad and elsewhere that nobody was gonna keep his little girl from bein' right at his side and they could eat shit and die if they thought they could do somethin' about it. Well, he was wrong. But, fool me decided to go back anyway. Some misguided notion of owing it to the kingdom still ringin' in my head. Suffice to say, we lost. Badly. Towards the end, the wyld hunt showed up. King sent Topaz running for the sea, being one of the few officers with a boat, I got assigned the suicide mission of gettin' her out of there. Once more, me own idiocy shows and I still didn't flee while I had the chance.

So, there I am, with a potential demon on me hands, tasked with the impossible duty of gettin' her out of the kingdom and away from the wyld hunt. Despite beliefs to the contrary, the ship I had at the time, beautiful creature though she was, would never have made it out of port. But, there was a small blessin', you see. Them dragon bloods. They had themselves a truly remarkable vessel they'd brought to remind the locals that it's best not to cross 'em. But, it mostly just gave me ideas. Took the 'demon' child with some of me best men in a pair of rafts right up to it, climbed aboard without em noticin' and by the gods, I thought we'd be in the fight of our lives just tryin' to board the damn thing. Topaz tore through em like nothin'. Maybe there is somethin' to that demon myth. Anyway, after we'd taken it from the bastards we loosed the sails and started to make our grand escape. And, I shit you not, every damn hostile ship in the harbor starts turnin' on us! I haven't the faintest idea how they knew, maybe some dragon blood witchcraft but they were on us like flies on shit. Now, we had a fight fit for legend. One ship! Surrounded and outgunned, undermanned and alone in the seas! I've never been more proud of my crew than that night. Fire and blood as we literally tore our way through the enemy! The crack of failing hulls! The endless pounding rhythm of hundreds of arrows raining down us as fire of our own belched forth from terrible, demonic statues on the ship!" (He would have exalted at this point but he's not mentioning it. What? Solar? Who, you mean Topaz?) He takes another swig and looks somewhat distant, "Lost half me crew that night. Good men. Didn't deserve what happened to 'em." Shaking his head, he continues

"Anyway, we managed to get out. Mostly just been raiding Prasad's merchants and keepin' an eye out for shipments bound for the the Wyld Hunt's monasteries. Usually find interesting toys. Picked up some new crew members along the way. Good people. See a lot of them as me own kids, even."

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

[angryicecream]

Sorry if this gets posted twice, not seeing it though.

Laughter on Winds Eclipse Caste Sail Supernal placeholder

[Noodle]

Here's my first draft of Diane Dionnkad, night caste Solar. Let me know what you think, ST man.

[wtaylorjr2001]

I modified my character sheet

[Dietaku]

Everyone's character sheets look good so far. Keep me posted when you're all done so we can get started.

[angryicecream]

Anyone want to have joint backstories? Was currently considering one with the Twilight (wtaylorjr2001),if he's willing Immediately hiring a Sorcerer Engineer for his crew feels like something my char would do at the first opportunity. Would have to take some dots in crafts ships but otherwise could work. My char will probably be a bit more callous (more uncaring than cruel) than it sounds like SGR would be but working through such differences is what makes RP fun!

[wtaylorjr2001]

Scholar is focused on going to the Wyld, close to the elemental pole of water in the west. He could use a ship, but as a passenger. He wants to test his Wyld crafting talents. He could work on your ship as a bad cook to get passage to the Wyld. His sister was stolen by the fae and he wants to find her and bring her home. He could do weapon repairs though.

[angryicecream]

Mmm, that could work. He open about his interest in the fae/why?

If you want more expedient conversation I'm angryicecream on discord and sadpuddle on Skype

[wtaylorjr2001]

I need your four digit tag for discord

[wtaylorjr2001]

I'm wtaylorjr2001#8555 on discord.

[angryicecream]

For some reason it's not letting me add you. My proper discord ID is

AngryIcecream

#7377

[wtaylorjr2001]

I set my bio and I invite people to add to it by joining. Our characters could have met the day he lost his sister.

[Aranfan]

I am interested in joining. Is this game still taking submissions?

In the Far East, in the territory near the shadowland known as the Noss Fens, there are a number of villages where the native tongue is not Forest-Tounge but rather Old Realm. This is not because they have somehow kept that ancient tongue intact, rather it is because the Dowager of the Irreverent Vulgate in Unrent Veils teaches Old Realm to them every generation and harshly punishes any deviation from what she deems correct. Hope's Last Gasp is from one of those villages, and she is thusly one of the Dowager's “children”.

Her early life was pleasant enough, she had both parents as well as an older brother and an identical twin sister. She learned her chores and enjoyed herself as most children do.

Then the Dowager came. The entire village was captured, and the Dowager made the children watch as their parents and older loved ones were turned into soulsteel trinkets. Then they were forced to give up their names to the neverborn. Thus did Rose become Hope's Last Gasp.

Yet where there is life, there is hope, and Hope's Last Gasp can last for a very long time indeed. She learned and refined the art of not being heard, and not being seen. She memorized the location of her family's souls and the patrol routes of the guards. And then finally, she felt herself ready, and she snuck herself, her sister, and the cutlery that was her family's remains out of the Dowager's citadel.

She would have gotten away cleanly too, if she hadn't exalted at the tail end of her escape. In the ensuing chaos, she got away, but her sister died to the arrows of the guards. She found herself guided by past life memories and intuition to a safe house demense with a cache of useful items, and cried herself to sleep.

When she woke in the morning, she was filled with resolve to retrieve her sister's remains. But instead found her sister had become the Shoat of the Mire. Anguished, she ran away, first just to get away, but eventually she changed her purpose to finding someone who could help her get her sister away from the Dowager. Her first companion was a cat that basically adopted her.

Her wanderings have taken her south, towards the dreaming sea.