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Because someone in Ask a Question, Get an Answer asked for a guide to the persona Charms in Socialize, I thought I'd take a moment to expand on my experience with the Charms.
First Impressions
I'll be honest - my very first read of the book, I was a bit confused when I got to Socialize. I asked myself, "Why would I take these? If I want to be someone else, that's what Larceny is for, isn't it?" Of course, this was before I had fully internalized the new social system, before I'd realized how key the presence or absence of Intimacies were. I came to realize that having access to an entirely different set of Intimacies wouldn't just make it harder to read my true intentions - while assuming a persona, my real Intimacies are effectively invulnerable.
Still, it takes a very weird sort of person to want to do that, right?
The progression of Charms seemed to follow a sort of logic, at least - some folks claimed it came out of nowhere, but to me it seemed pretty straightforward: you start out with having a good poker face, advance to being able to indefinitely keep your intentions hidden, move on to hiding a specific thing you care about, to making it seem like you care about it in an entirely different context, to having an entirely different set of Intimacies, et cetera.
I put aside the Socialize rules and didn't think much on them as I ran my first Exalted 3e game, since it was a seafaring game and the PCs were largely interested in treasures and gods and monsters. I would occasionally call for a Read Intentions roll, but even the PCs who put dots in Socialize didn't purchase any of its Charms, so at the time it was largely just there for the PCs to find the leverage for their massive Presence pools.
Inspirational Material
As the game went on, I got the itch to play Ex3 without having to sit in the ST chair. As my seafaring game's players dropped off one by one to RL concerns, I began to wonder about PCs I could make for the time when I would eventually take a turn at playing.
That's when I started reading Doom and Gloam, a campaign log of an Exalted 3e game in which Jenna Moran played Dessa Svetlana or Tepet Evdeniya, depending on whether she had her Socialize Charms active or not. Svetlana was a Socialize Supernal Night who had stepped into the identity of a missing Realm magistrate.
I'd also started rereading the Caste Books from Exalted 1e. By the time I read Caste Book: Eclipse, I was starting to see the appeal of a Socialize Solar.
Na na na na na na na na na na na na na, Batman!
Some friends eventually announced games, and I made characters for them, but most of those have either fallen apart or been put on hold. Still, looking for a spot for Sundays, I found a Discord group that had an opening. Feeling a bit of whimsy, I decided to try a concept that was a little out-there (hey, one of the other PCs was named "Invisible Horse Princess"). I recalled a post of mine, from years ago, in which I'd asserted that any Caste of Solar could be played as Batman (given how many hats he wears, the numerous writers who've each had their own takes on him, and so on), and decided to put my money where my mouth was.
I decided on an Eclipse Caste, asking myself, "What if Batman had to invent Bruce Wayne?", and thus Knight Raiton was born.
(Admittedly he's also got a bit of Moon Knight to him.)
Knight Raiton is a masked vigilante detective who stalks the streets of Nexus by night. By day he lives as Carter Brus, an affluent Guild factor residing in a mansion in the Bastion district with his manservant, Avery. Knight Raiton Exalted as an Eclipse Caste after capturing a murderer and bringing him to the family of his victim, and convincing them not to kill him.
At character creation, I only went as deep as Heart-Eclipsing Shroud (because let's face it, if you're gonna be Batman, you're gonna want to be able to throw a punch, solve a mystery, scare bad guys, throw a funny-shaped boomerang, and sneak around), but since then I've expanded his Socialize milieu pretty drastically.
Knight Raiton's Intimacies included a Defining pledge to never set aside his crusade, a Major contempt for murderers, a Major fondness for his friend and manservant, a Major mourning over his parents, and a Major promise to not become like the monsters he fights. On the other hand, his Intimacies as Carter included a Defining desire to live lavishly, a Major desire to protect his family's legacy, a Major fondness for his friend and manservant, and a Minor pleasure found in helping the needy.
Overall, he’s been a fun character to play, and the other players seem to enjoy how he holds animosity for the assassin PC, Invisible Horse Princess, in one moment, yet at other times seems to show respect for the heights to which she’s bootstrapped herself.
First Impressions
I'll be honest - my very first read of the book, I was a bit confused when I got to Socialize. I asked myself, "Why would I take these? If I want to be someone else, that's what Larceny is for, isn't it?" Of course, this was before I had fully internalized the new social system, before I'd realized how key the presence or absence of Intimacies were. I came to realize that having access to an entirely different set of Intimacies wouldn't just make it harder to read my true intentions - while assuming a persona, my real Intimacies are effectively invulnerable.
Still, it takes a very weird sort of person to want to do that, right?
The progression of Charms seemed to follow a sort of logic, at least - some folks claimed it came out of nowhere, but to me it seemed pretty straightforward: you start out with having a good poker face, advance to being able to indefinitely keep your intentions hidden, move on to hiding a specific thing you care about, to making it seem like you care about it in an entirely different context, to having an entirely different set of Intimacies, et cetera.
I put aside the Socialize rules and didn't think much on them as I ran my first Exalted 3e game, since it was a seafaring game and the PCs were largely interested in treasures and gods and monsters. I would occasionally call for a Read Intentions roll, but even the PCs who put dots in Socialize didn't purchase any of its Charms, so at the time it was largely just there for the PCs to find the leverage for their massive Presence pools.
Inspirational Material
As the game went on, I got the itch to play Ex3 without having to sit in the ST chair. As my seafaring game's players dropped off one by one to RL concerns, I began to wonder about PCs I could make for the time when I would eventually take a turn at playing.
That's when I started reading Doom and Gloam, a campaign log of an Exalted 3e game in which Jenna Moran played Dessa Svetlana or Tepet Evdeniya, depending on whether she had her Socialize Charms active or not. Svetlana was a Socialize Supernal Night who had stepped into the identity of a missing Realm magistrate.
I'd also started rereading the Caste Books from Exalted 1e. By the time I read Caste Book: Eclipse, I was starting to see the appeal of a Socialize Solar.
Na na na na na na na na na na na na na, Batman!
Some friends eventually announced games, and I made characters for them, but most of those have either fallen apart or been put on hold. Still, looking for a spot for Sundays, I found a Discord group that had an opening. Feeling a bit of whimsy, I decided to try a concept that was a little out-there (hey, one of the other PCs was named "Invisible Horse Princess"). I recalled a post of mine, from years ago, in which I'd asserted that any Caste of Solar could be played as Batman (given how many hats he wears, the numerous writers who've each had their own takes on him, and so on), and decided to put my money where my mouth was.
I decided on an Eclipse Caste, asking myself, "What if Batman had to invent Bruce Wayne?", and thus Knight Raiton was born.
(Admittedly he's also got a bit of Moon Knight to him.)
Knight Raiton is a masked vigilante detective who stalks the streets of Nexus by night. By day he lives as Carter Brus, an affluent Guild factor residing in a mansion in the Bastion district with his manservant, Avery. Knight Raiton Exalted as an Eclipse Caste after capturing a murderer and bringing him to the family of his victim, and convincing them not to kill him.
At character creation, I only went as deep as Heart-Eclipsing Shroud (because let's face it, if you're gonna be Batman, you're gonna want to be able to throw a punch, solve a mystery, scare bad guys, throw a funny-shaped boomerang, and sneak around), but since then I've expanded his Socialize milieu pretty drastically.
Knight Raiton's Intimacies included a Defining pledge to never set aside his crusade, a Major contempt for murderers, a Major fondness for his friend and manservant, a Major mourning over his parents, and a Major promise to not become like the monsters he fights. On the other hand, his Intimacies as Carter included a Defining desire to live lavishly, a Major desire to protect his family's legacy, a Major fondness for his friend and manservant, and a Minor pleasure found in helping the needy.
Overall, he’s been a fun character to play, and the other players seem to enjoy how he holds animosity for the assassin PC, Invisible Horse Princess, in one moment, yet at other times seems to show respect for the heights to which she’s bootstrapped herself.
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