OOC (Exalted): The Whitestone Island Campaign

[Brasstreader]

Hey, Brasstreader. Quick sea folk character sketch! Can't make the damn thing link properly (curse you, tablet!), but I'll just put the URL below. It's a half-finished work. If you think it fits, tell me about your character's jewelry and glowing markings and clothes/tools/weapons and I'll throw some garb and detail and lighting on it. Good practice.

very good. Looking forward to the finished draft.
I'll be done by tomorrow, myself. Anathema's acting up.

[The MG]

Version 1 of whats-her-face the penitent, keeper of bones and general bitter jerk. Also, a child of the Dreaming River Tribe (whereas her yidak was a Green Flower).

Motivation: To redeem herself in the eyes of the gods (not that she believes they’re watching).
Intimacies: Kusuma (Guilt), Shadowed Skies (Reluctant Loyalty), Tribal Elders (Bitter Indifference), the Gods (Resentful Piety), Hasya (Respect), ‘Enoka (Affectionate Pity), Suanggi (Old Love), Jainat Marigami (Disapproval), Outcasts (Kinship), Kava (Inordinate Fondness)
Archetype: Priest
Profession: Mendicant
Attributes
Physical: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3
Social: Charisma 1, Manipulation 3, Appearance 2
Mental: Intelligence 3, Wits 2, Perception 4
Abilities
Athletics 1, Craft (Wood) 1, Integrity 4, Larceny 3, Linguistics 1, Lore 1, Medicine 1, Melee 4, Occult 3, Performance 2, Presence 1, Resistance 3, Socialize 2, Survival 3, War 2
Professional Abilities: Integrity, Resistance, Survival
Specialties: Craft: Weaponry 2, Melee: Ritual Combat 2, War: Coordinated Attacks 1
Advantages
Essence: 1
Backgrounds: Artifact 2, Backing (Temple Guardians) 1, Familiar 3, Influence 2
Virtues: Compassion 2, Conviction 2, Valour 3, Temperance 4
Willpower: 8
Thaumaturgy: Dishonest (Creature)'s Rebuke, Spirit Sight, Thanks for the Hunt

BONUS POINTS

1: Melee 4
2: War 2
2: Larceny 3
2: Lore 1
1: Melee specialties
2: Craft (Wood) specialities
1: War specialty
1: Artifact 2
6: Compassion 2, Valour 3
2: Willpower 8
1: Thaumaturgical procedures

NOTES

Her Artifact rating represents assorted talismans (see page 379 of the corebook), as follows:

• An ofuda ward against goblins wound around the hilt of her weapon.
• A herb-scented rag, likewise wrapped around her sword-hilt, serving as a charm against disease.
• A full-circle pig tusk worn as an anklet. Carved with prayers to the gods, it acts as a good luck charm.
• Whispering Valley Tribe-style tattoos on her hands and forearms, serving as a double-strength ward against the dead.
• A ward against water spirits in the form of an ornate whalebone hairstick.

Her Influence derives from her reputation as a witch or demon, and so mostly applies to attempts at intimidation. It's meaningless against those who know the details of her penance (Hasya, for instance).

She speaks Old Realm in addition to the local tongue.

[Wise Old Guru]

So based on the fact that you're really good at combat and have Whispering Valley tats, assuming you were trained as an elite exorcist-warrior at the Temple of Eyes before being assigned to guard one of the island's more dangerous ruins? I like the char sheet. You could probably do with some warding or alarm magic, given you backstory, but the Guardians do work in teams so if you were the muscle and your former teammates were the warders/exorcists, that could be okay. Tell me about you ritual combat specialty. Are you thinking about duels, ceremonial combat for festival occasions, or what?

[Foxsimile]

Tinkered with Wahine's stats. I'm ready to call her done mechanically if there's nothing you want me to change or clarify.

Also, how is everyone doing the spoiler button in their posts?

[Brasstreader]

Tinkered with Wahine's stats. I'm ready to call her done mechanically if there's nothing you want me to change or clarify.

Also, how is everyone doing the spoiler button in their posts?

{spoiler}
Text
{/spoiler}

but with exponents instead of curly brackets.

[LostLight]

well, I'm kinda got sick recently, but I'm going to try and post Seskan today :P

[HaplessWithDice]

Huelo Fokisi
Attributes
Strength 4 Charisma 3. Perception 2
Dexterity 4 manipulation2 intelligence 2
Stamina 4 appearance 4. Wits 2
Abilities
Martial arts 3
(F)Melee (swords +2)3
Lore 2
Occult 1
Bear.(criminal law+1) 3
Presence(giving orders+1) 3
Athletics (swimming+2) 2
Integrity 2
Resistance 3
Sail 2
Dodge 2

Backgrounds:
Resources 2
Ally (deputy) 1
(Remainder banked)
Virtues
Compassion 2 temperance 3
Conviction 3. Valor 3
Will
9 wp(9/9)
Weapons
Coral Navy Cutlass (chopping Sword)
Billie club
Other possession
Small house
Buff jacket
Intemaces
Rule of law(duty)
Mother (love)
Lost sister (love)

[Wise Old Guru]

Just edited the second post, put in a Cast of Characters (useful for me for keeping NPC names and relationships straight as the game goes on, hopefully useful for you too). I'm organizing most of the NPCs by their affiliation, since that social context is where you're most likely to encounter them. In getting up NPCs, I discovered I have a couple of questions which may impact local politics.

1. The MG, from your initial writeup of your character concept, you indicated that she was a chieftain's daughter who ended up training with the Temple Guardians due to criminal behavior to get her out of the public eye and to teach her some discipline. While she's now nameless and forsaken by her tribe and accepted only by the Temple Guardians, blood is thicker than water. If I remember right, you wanted to be have been born into the Dreaming River Tribe? That would make Chief Shadowed Skies your mother, and young Palms and Moon would be your younger half-brothers. That sound good to you, or did you want to ditch the disgraced-daughter-of-the-Chief bit of your backstory?

2. Hapless With Dice and Jen, I sorta wrote the recent backstory of the Sunset Tribe to give you two an in-Chieftain's children vanish (kidnapped by slavers), Chieftain goes into grieving and dies of illness, his sister's husband takes over. If Huelo is the son of the Sunset Tribe's former chieftain, he's technically the rightful heir to the position and has a claim to be the true chieftain. His mother and those few warriors still loyal to her would likely back his claim, but if his identity is known the current Chief and his supporters (and the Green Flower Tribe) would come down hard on a potential coup in the making. I know you want to do the law-and-order thing- are you keeping your true identity secret and building up popular support, or are you open about who you are and have publicly abandoned your claim to the throne and are serving the existing order? You two are kind of a civil war waiting to happen, especially if you're going to be trying to find out the truth behind your father's death (your mother insists he was poisoned rather than dying of a fever) and before I get too invested in that I want to make sure you're okay with that sorta thing.

3. Everyone Else: While character sheets are coming in, I'm looking at starting locations. I'm thinking of splitting the party into Eastern Island Posse and Western Island Posse (and maybe even a third posse, if things shake out that way), so we can get you involved with multiple tribes to get things nice and complicated. The downside of splitting the group is that it might take some of you guys forever to actually meet each other. The upside is that we can tell a slightly more epic story, with schemes and politics and adventure going on in multiple places at once, so you will have affected the other group and will have heard of them by reputation before you ever meet them. If we do go with splitting the party, I'd like to state right out that while I'm fine with inter-tribal warfare, I'd rather avoid PC-versus-PC battles during such a struggle. If some of you will be supporting the Green Flower tribe's goal of uniting the island under one chieftain, and some of you will be supporting a different tribe, I'd like to see you working to defuse the situation rather than just killing one another. If you all end up on one side of the conflict or if you are up against NPCs of the other side but PCs are not there, of course, the out-of-game exhortation to be peacemakers is lifted and you're free to get as bloody as you want.

Pretty sure the Maiden and and Huelo start best either in the Sunset Tribe territory, which is their homeland, or in Dreaming River territory, as the chieftain there would try to build them into a wedge to separate the Green Flower and Sunset tribes, so she'd give them aid and local status and try to get on their good side. Hasya and Pakari are both Temple Guardians, so they could be stationed or traveling anywhere, and the same is true of the Bearer of Bones. Wahine is also a wanderer, but she's got an interest plot thread going with Haku in the Green Flower Tribe, and I'd love to get her in a party with Akoli Tane, who'd likely be in their territory as well because the Green Flowers do the most trade with his people. Seskan also fits well into Green Flower Territory, as his homeland is further west where the Wyld and its mutations are even more of a danger. Lyndon could show up anywhere....so...thoughts on where you'd like to start out and who you'd like to start out with would be good?

[HaplessWithDice]

I am building popular support first. It's the smartest route to take.

[The MG]

The MG, from your initial writeup of your character concept, you indicated that she was a chieftain's daughter who ended up training with the Temple Guardians due to criminal behavior to get her out of the public eye and to teach her some discipline. While she's now nameless and forsaken by her tribe and accepted only by the Temple Guardians, blood is thicker than water. If I remember right, you wanted to be have been born into the Dreaming River Tribe? That would make Chief Shadowed Skies your mother, and young Palms and Moon would be your younger half-brothers. That sound good to you, or did you want to ditch the disgraced-daughter-of-the-Chief bit of your backstory?

I'm still attached to the idea, but I wrote it under the assumption that there would be more and weaker chiefs, so...
It would make more sense, I think, if she was a niece or cousin of Shadowed Skies, or possibly her younger sister. Given their relative ages (I'd place the penitent as a thirtysomething, having joined the Guardians in her mid-to-late teens), I think I'd like the last option the most, if that's cool.

On a similar note, can we take a not from the Exalt chargen errata and take (Compassion + Willpower) starting intimacies rather than just (Compassion)? I have way too few of them, I realise.
If not, that's fine, since I can just rejigger my BP expenditures to do the "(Willpower) extra intimacies" thing.

(Also, Kusuma's a good name. I like it.)

[Wise Old Guru]

Sure. More intimacies is more story-hooks. Hey, everybody, feel free to take Compassion+Willpower starting intimacies.

Shadowed Skies' younger sister works great.

[The MG]

Oh, I missed this post.

So based on the fact that you're really good at combat and have Whispering Valley tats, assuming you were trained as an elite exorcist-warrior at the Temple of Eyes before being assigned to guard one of the island's more dangerous ruins?

Yeah, that was the plan, roughly. Additionally, she's kept her swordsmanship keen through various altercations with minor monsters and spirits during her seven years of penance, though certain other Abilities (like Athletics, and Presence) have faltered.

You could probably do with some warding or alarm magic, given you backstory, but the Guardians do work in teams so if you were the muscle and your former teammates were the warders/exorcists, that could be okay.

No, you're right. Foretell Weather didn't really satisfy me, so I replaced it with Dishonest (Creature)'s Rebuke.
Of course, now I can't decide which creature it should apply against. Ghosts, I guess? Or demons?

I also took the opportunity to change her talismans around somewhat, though the mechanics haven't changed.

Tell me about you ritual combat specialty. Are you thinking about duels, ceremonial combat for festival occasions, or what?

I forgot to include this, apparently. The idea was for it to apply when using ritualised fighting techniques and battle-chants against evil spirits, though it also serves for ceremonial combat.

(I added the missing intimacies, too, including one towards Hasya.)

[Foxsimile]

Wahine is also a wanderer, but she's got an interest plot thread going with Haku in the Green Flower Tribe, and I'd love to get her in a party with Akoli Tane, who'd likely be in their territory as well because the Green Flowers do the most trade with his people.

Sounds good. I was thinking she probably uses one of the larger villages of the Green Flower Tribe as her home base. As the main power on the island, the larger Green Flower villages are a centralized location for gossip, trade, commissions, and odd jobs fixing things. There's plenty to keep her attention in the Green Flower territories.

[LostLight]

so I almost finished Seskan's sheets (except of the edited background section) and I managed to stop myself from creating more NPCs :P I'll try to post it tomorrow

[Wise Old Guru]

Hm. If Wahine's got a kickass Airbender glider-staff, that's worth a dot or two of artifact, especially given your description of its construction. Feel free to take it without paying artifact dots for it, but rest assured that if you do do I am going to break the thing at some point, whether it be by storm or fire or jealous lover or hungry pterodactyl.