This was born partly out of prior discussions in this forum about WoD/CoD templates being converted into Exigent Exalts, for which Dataweaver Data has my thanks, as well as prior observations on how High-Sekhem Mummies were essentially Exalts in terms of power (blowing up cities and the like). Because of those factors, I've decided to give a go at converting the Arisen as Celestial Exalted.
Background: No one is really sure where the group known as the 42 Judges came from. Well, that's a lie, it's well known that they came from the Underworld, being powerful ghosts and all. But what about before? And how did they become so powerful? While not as powerful individually as the latter Deathlords, both of these ghastly groups combined were a match for each other, with each Deathlord possessing more puissance than each Judge, but outnumbered 3-to-1. Regardless, the 42 Judges see themselves as the arbitrators of the Underworld's Laws, punishing newcomers for their crimes committed in life. While the Deathlords could overwhelm each Judge individually easily enough, for the most part they choose not to bother with them due to it being a waste of time and resources (though there are exceptions.)
While no one is fully sure as to the origins of the Judges, plenty of those old enough to have witnessed the First Age know about their grudges towards the Celestial Exalted and the Solars in particular. Unlike their Neverborn-enhanced neighbors, the Judges abstain from using large amounts of Soulsteel in favor of having agents locate and, well, relocate natural veins of Oriachalcum. In addition, the Judges have under their control in one of their Shadowlands territories a volcanic facility, one of the last of it's kind, dedicated to producing Oriachalcum. Why they treasure the stuff is simple: It is a container of life. Not literally as with the case of Green Jade, but metaphorically. Oriachalcum is the magical material of sorcery, of energy, of power, and for the vain of heart it looks quite nice. Possessing and utilizing such a material would normally be out of the wheelhouse of the Judges, but they have somehow made it work.
Thus, their opposition towards the Solars, the other major snatcher of Oriachalcum. It's not the only reason of course for this rivalry, but all other reasons possible are either lies or kept hidden from those not among their ranks. Common speculations among the learned include the creation of the Underworld's Calendar, the abuse of Necromancy to affect the ghosts within their domain, defiance of legal judgement for some matter or another, the list goes on. As for why the Lunars and the Sidereals were also lumped into the Judge's targets for ire, the reasons (possible and certified) are far less clear, but they are hated all the same (though less than the Solars). Dragon-Blooded are more ignored than hated, but are certainly not liked either.
Many centuries ago, in the height of the First Age, the Judges decided that they would craft a weapon, one strong enough and tenacious enough to exterminate the Exalted Host and get revenge for... whatever it was that the Celestials had done. While the Judges were powerful enough combined to craft an Exaltation on their own, they decided not to waste any of their own power beyond the bare minimum to fuel the creation, and instead rely on human sacrifice to pay the toll. Lots and lots of human sacrifice. In the end, 42 skilled humans, one for each Judge and all deserving of the title of "hero", became 42 shambling, mummified amnesiac corpses fused with the power of tainted life and the Underworld's Laws. These mummies, the Arisen Exalted, were sent out into Creation to begin their war against the Exalted Host.
To put it bluntly, the first go around they didn't get very far. Not a single Celestial slain, and only a few Dragon-Blooded dead. This normally would have marked one of the shortest lasting wars in Creation, were it not for a small detail about the Arisen: Their ability to return from death. And so it was, while the first wave of attacks achieved little, the second wave did a bit better by killing a young Lunar. Then the third came with a newborn Solar falling to their might. So on and so forth, each wave would do a bit better than the previous as the Arisen slowly regained their sapience and with it their cunning. Fearless charges morphed into night attacks and less-than-honorable duels. Eventually, the 42 Judgesworn became too much of an annoyance for the late First Age Solars to ignore anymore, resulting in a planned decapitation strike against the Judges. A few of the Judges ceased to exist, and the Arisen souls of that Age were permanently destroyed, leaving only empty shells waiting to be filled.
Recovering from this counterattack took time, far too much time in the opinion of the remaining Judges. While their ranks were refilled with other ghosts assuming the judiciary rainments, finding more mortal heroes willing to take up the mantle of Arisen was a trying effort. By the time all 42 Arisen were reborn with their new souls, the Solars were already dead and buried, the Lunars had escaped into the Wyld where few could pursue them and the Sidereals secluded themselves in Heaven. Suddenly, the all powerful superweapons of the Judges had no use in this new Age of mediocrity. So, they were put to an eternal sleep, awaiting the day that they would be needed once more, where their forever rest would become a finite one.
The time is now. The Solars have returned, flanked by twisted versions of themselves as well as other strange Exalts. The time for the Arisen, the enforcers of the Judge's will, has come to pass. Though this second generation does not have the memories of the first (nor most of the memories from their own lives), they still possess the dangerous power which fills their decrepit bones and bowstring sinew. They are strong and eternal, and as the Usurpation showed, the Solars are not. The Lunars are not. The Sidereals are not. None of them are.
Mechanics: The Arisen Exalted are Celestial-level Attribute Exalts, numbering just 42 souls. They are considered Undead and Creatures of Darkness. Their capabilities include the following:
The modes demonstrated by the Arisen tend to intrude on the domains of other Exalted: Miracles for the Solars, Fate for the Sidereals, Bodychanging for the Lunars and so on. However, all of these traits are tainted by the Arisen's existence as a walking corpse: The miracles they perform are generally destructive acts or are "creatively" generative. The changes to Fate they make typically are temporary changes as opposed to a Sidereal's longer-lasting alterations. Rather than change into animals (for the most part), the Arisen change their bodies into less-material things such as ghosts, fire, gods and the like.
The Great Curse of the Arisen Exalted revolves around their lack of memory. The procedure done to fuse new souls into the Arisen forms is a traumatic one that deprives them upon waking up from their normal memories. The first scene that an Arisen is brought back to life by the Judges in, they cannot benefit from Intimacies or Virtues except for a temporary Major Virtue: Ambition (Destroy the enemies of the Judges.) This dissipates at the end of the scene. Beyond this, the Arisen suffer from the Great Curse as usual, with manifestations ranging from sociopathy (as they forget all memories of empathy and understanding) to bedlam (due to their dementia-ridden minds losing all inhibition).
Castes: The Arisen Exalted fall into five castes, each represented by a "part of the soul" (which of course does not conform to actual soul science studies and an animal. (Note: Caste descriptions and powers to be added later).
Background: No one is really sure where the group known as the 42 Judges came from. Well, that's a lie, it's well known that they came from the Underworld, being powerful ghosts and all. But what about before? And how did they become so powerful? While not as powerful individually as the latter Deathlords, both of these ghastly groups combined were a match for each other, with each Deathlord possessing more puissance than each Judge, but outnumbered 3-to-1. Regardless, the 42 Judges see themselves as the arbitrators of the Underworld's Laws, punishing newcomers for their crimes committed in life. While the Deathlords could overwhelm each Judge individually easily enough, for the most part they choose not to bother with them due to it being a waste of time and resources (though there are exceptions.)
While no one is fully sure as to the origins of the Judges, plenty of those old enough to have witnessed the First Age know about their grudges towards the Celestial Exalted and the Solars in particular. Unlike their Neverborn-enhanced neighbors, the Judges abstain from using large amounts of Soulsteel in favor of having agents locate and, well, relocate natural veins of Oriachalcum. In addition, the Judges have under their control in one of their Shadowlands territories a volcanic facility, one of the last of it's kind, dedicated to producing Oriachalcum. Why they treasure the stuff is simple: It is a container of life. Not literally as with the case of Green Jade, but metaphorically. Oriachalcum is the magical material of sorcery, of energy, of power, and for the vain of heart it looks quite nice. Possessing and utilizing such a material would normally be out of the wheelhouse of the Judges, but they have somehow made it work.
Thus, their opposition towards the Solars, the other major snatcher of Oriachalcum. It's not the only reason of course for this rivalry, but all other reasons possible are either lies or kept hidden from those not among their ranks. Common speculations among the learned include the creation of the Underworld's Calendar, the abuse of Necromancy to affect the ghosts within their domain, defiance of legal judgement for some matter or another, the list goes on. As for why the Lunars and the Sidereals were also lumped into the Judge's targets for ire, the reasons (possible and certified) are far less clear, but they are hated all the same (though less than the Solars). Dragon-Blooded are more ignored than hated, but are certainly not liked either.
Many centuries ago, in the height of the First Age, the Judges decided that they would craft a weapon, one strong enough and tenacious enough to exterminate the Exalted Host and get revenge for... whatever it was that the Celestials had done. While the Judges were powerful enough combined to craft an Exaltation on their own, they decided not to waste any of their own power beyond the bare minimum to fuel the creation, and instead rely on human sacrifice to pay the toll. Lots and lots of human sacrifice. In the end, 42 skilled humans, one for each Judge and all deserving of the title of "hero", became 42 shambling, mummified amnesiac corpses fused with the power of tainted life and the Underworld's Laws. These mummies, the Arisen Exalted, were sent out into Creation to begin their war against the Exalted Host.
To put it bluntly, the first go around they didn't get very far. Not a single Celestial slain, and only a few Dragon-Blooded dead. This normally would have marked one of the shortest lasting wars in Creation, were it not for a small detail about the Arisen: Their ability to return from death. And so it was, while the first wave of attacks achieved little, the second wave did a bit better by killing a young Lunar. Then the third came with a newborn Solar falling to their might. So on and so forth, each wave would do a bit better than the previous as the Arisen slowly regained their sapience and with it their cunning. Fearless charges morphed into night attacks and less-than-honorable duels. Eventually, the 42 Judgesworn became too much of an annoyance for the late First Age Solars to ignore anymore, resulting in a planned decapitation strike against the Judges. A few of the Judges ceased to exist, and the Arisen souls of that Age were permanently destroyed, leaving only empty shells waiting to be filled.
Recovering from this counterattack took time, far too much time in the opinion of the remaining Judges. While their ranks were refilled with other ghosts assuming the judiciary rainments, finding more mortal heroes willing to take up the mantle of Arisen was a trying effort. By the time all 42 Arisen were reborn with their new souls, the Solars were already dead and buried, the Lunars had escaped into the Wyld where few could pursue them and the Sidereals secluded themselves in Heaven. Suddenly, the all powerful superweapons of the Judges had no use in this new Age of mediocrity. So, they were put to an eternal sleep, awaiting the day that they would be needed once more, where their forever rest would become a finite one.
The time is now. The Solars have returned, flanked by twisted versions of themselves as well as other strange Exalts. The time for the Arisen, the enforcers of the Judge's will, has come to pass. Though this second generation does not have the memories of the first (nor most of the memories from their own lives), they still possess the dangerous power which fills their decrepit bones and bowstring sinew. They are strong and eternal, and as the Usurpation showed, the Solars are not. The Lunars are not. The Sidereals are not. None of them are.
Mechanics: The Arisen Exalted are Celestial-level Attribute Exalts, numbering just 42 souls. They are considered Undead and Creatures of Darkness. Their capabilities include the following:
- 2nd Circle Sorcery
- 2nd Circle Necromancy
- Celestial-level Martial Arts
- Resonance with Oriachalcum, the magical material of "spiritual" Life.
- 1st Trait: Exhausted Souls: At the beginning of each session, an Arisen Exalted starts at Essence 5 (for all intents and purposes). At the end of every scene, they roll their Essence in dice. Should any of those dice show successes, the Exalt's Essence goes down by 1 (to a minimum of the Exalt's actual Essence.) This returns to Essence 5 at the next session. They are able to buy charms of up to Essence 5 regardless of their actual Essence score, so long as they meet all of the other requirements. If the Exalt's Essence score dips down below the minimum required to use a charm, they cannot use it until the next session.
- 2nd Trait: Awe-Inspiring Corpses: While their Anima Banner is at 2 or lower, the Arisen's true nature is as well, granting (6 - Essence) bonus dice to all rolls to appear as a normal human. When their Anima Banner becomes Burning (5-6) or higher, their corpse nature becomes visible, granting them +Essence bonus dice to all rolls to inspire fear and awe in others.
The modes demonstrated by the Arisen tend to intrude on the domains of other Exalted: Miracles for the Solars, Fate for the Sidereals, Bodychanging for the Lunars and so on. However, all of these traits are tainted by the Arisen's existence as a walking corpse: The miracles they perform are generally destructive acts or are "creatively" generative. The changes to Fate they make typically are temporary changes as opposed to a Sidereal's longer-lasting alterations. Rather than change into animals (for the most part), the Arisen change their bodies into less-material things such as ghosts, fire, gods and the like.
The Great Curse of the Arisen Exalted revolves around their lack of memory. The procedure done to fuse new souls into the Arisen forms is a traumatic one that deprives them upon waking up from their normal memories. The first scene that an Arisen is brought back to life by the Judges in, they cannot benefit from Intimacies or Virtues except for a temporary Major Virtue: Ambition (Destroy the enemies of the Judges.) This dissipates at the end of the scene. Beyond this, the Arisen suffer from the Great Curse as usual, with manifestations ranging from sociopathy (as they forget all memories of empathy and understanding) to bedlam (due to their dementia-ridden minds losing all inhibition).
Castes: The Arisen Exalted fall into five castes, each represented by a "part of the soul" (which of course does not conform to actual soul science studies and an animal. (Note: Caste descriptions and powers to be added later).
- Heart Caste, also known as the Lions or the Ardent (Ab)
- Spirit Caste, also known as the Falcons or the Dauntless (Ba)
- Life Caste, also known as the Bulls or the Stalwart (Ka)
- Name Caste, also known as the Serpents or the Cunning (Ren)
- Shadow Caste, also known as the Jackals or the Eldritch (Sheut)
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