Exalts with dependents?

[Accelerator]

So ignoring the fact that you aren't part of a big organisation. You aren't a dynast, you aren't a member of the silver pact, or whatnot. You're just... some guy who exalted in the middle of nowhere. No support network. No assistants. Maybe you exalted as a solar when you built a mechanical harvester to help your father's aging back, or you survived killing a tyrant lizard. Or its your 18th birthday, and you become a dragonblooded.

So you've got parents, children, younger siblings, or whatever. Basically, you got them with you, and you gotta stay with them. What do you do? Do you bring them along with you? Do you just stay put and hunker down?

If so, then what adventures do you write? The story of 'how we made a spring and made a water pump', or do you write a story of problems coming to them, what with the myraid dangers a village in the age of sorrows experiences?

[JohnDoe244]

I'm reminded of an old greentext story which I don't seem to have on-hand about a town guard being offered to become a PC... and this: https://www.handbookofheroes.com/arc...k-of-heroes-13

But more seriously:

My characters are often Dynasts (lots of dependents, big support network), Alchemicals (no dependents, big support network) or Infernals (I ate my dependents, big support network).

But the Solars I've played with kids kinda played out like Goku and his kids. I was pretty damn negilgent.

I see a lot of room for Lone Wolf and Cub style stories. And I also see a lot of scope for the traveling Exalt who leaves their family somewhere safe(ish), like Whitewall, and comes home between adventures to marvel at how their kids have grown.

I say go full Age of Sorrows... but then I'm used to Ward being a 3-point flaw. I guess it's a Session 0 thing?

My only 3E character is going to have a newborn soon (once we stop playing flashbacks... hmm... there's a thought, we could flashback to the birth of our now adult children). But they're a Dynast couple living with their two adult children, mortal allies, brother and wife and nephew, sister, aunt and cousin. "Watch the baby, brb -- gotta kick ass" is pretty much the order of the day here.

Superhero comics have high action, and Marvel leans into a family focus. Not exactly the right genre, but that might give you some ideas. How much page time did Squirrel Girl get looking after Luke and Jessica's baby? I only remember a couple of panels from Secret Invasion, but that's probably got some ripe fodder. And Fantastic Four with the twins. And, you know, go immediately read all of Lone Wolf and Cub.

[Accelerator]

And another thing. When you get a younger brother, or when your solar twilight medicine herbalist has 2 sons she has to bring around with her due to the wyld hunt.... well, how does she deal with them? Set loose an army of demons to serve as guards? Hit up other people for alliance and help? Bring them along with her because she's probably the deadliest combatant for miles around despite the fact that this brings them right into the line of fire?

Just questions to think about.

[Accelerator]

Yeah JohnDoe244 , I was more thinking of the various shit that comes around when you play 'wandering mercenary' and you have a younger sister or son with you. Changes a lot of things. Like the possible amounts of trauma she gets.

[TheCountAlucard]

But the Solars I've played with kids kinda played out like Goku and his kids. I was pretty damn negilgent.

"Your dad is dead! For good!"

"But he just got back from his training. After getting back from Namek. After getting back from his training. AFTER BEING DEAD."

"Bye son~!"

[Isator Levi]

Must... not... correct memes... actually interesting topic at hand!

And another thing. When you get a younger brother, or when your solar twilight medicine herbalist has 2 sons she has to bring around with her due to the wyld hunt.... well, how does she deal with them? Set loose an army of demons to serve as guards? Hit up other people for alliance and help? Bring them along with her because she's probably the deadliest combatant for miles around despite the fact that this brings them right into the line of fire?

That one in particular... I think in a lot of examples of the kinds of circumstances you're describing, people will be in an instance where community is pretty close knit. There may have been many other circumstances in which neighbours who have essentially functioned as godparents need to graduate to full parents now that you understandably need to go on the run. So long as you're not leaving behind any enemies who might out them, well... it's probably not beyond the capabilities of the Wyld Hunt to sufficiently interrogate residents for the identities of anybody who might serve as leverage against the Anathema, but I'd find it credible that many will not care to risk wasting the time while their quarry continues to get a lead. Not unless they've at least got a lead that the target left family behind.

Which is not to say that taking them with you should not be done, but that it raises questions about what kind of compelling drama was behind why it was done. Do you have an enemy in your community that would expose them for malice or opportunity? Do you have an overriding personal need to keep your children with you even if it might be pragmatically safer to leave them behind?

Suddenly I'm imagining an Exalt whose personal demeanour was not so inclined towards the acquisition of lands, property and titles (really more of an artistic or creative type), but feels compelled to do so and become caught up in schemes of dynastic matchmaking because hey, your kids grew up resenting the fact that you uprooted their lives and carried them off into uncertainty and danger for lacking the will to be separated from them, and you're not really sure what to do to avoid having to watch them grow old hating you besides trying to buy back their love. Annnd maybe at least one of them was kind of an asshole and actively capitalised on that anxiety because, you know, having a parent capable and motivated to get you that shit is an astronomically rare opportunity.

[Accelerator]

Wait. Why do you think there should be an overarching need for them to *not* bring their children along? For starters, no parent would really want to be separated from their child. Also, there could be fear of alienation. Farming communities, at least as I understand them in the old days (apologies for the generalization) are xenophobic, insular, and hell for those who are ostracised. Do you really want your kids to grow up as 'The kids of the woman who turned Anathema'? They could be ostracized, shunned, starved, or even banished or sold as slaves because who would want to be associated with them? And also, leaving your kids behind means that there's the chance that they'll be used as leverage. You want to trust them to be left to the tender 'mercies' of the dragonblooded?

[Accelerator]

Suddenly I'm imagining an Exalt whose personal demeanour was not so inclined towards the acquisition of lands, property and titles (really more of an artistic or creative type), but feels compelled to do so and become caught up in schemes of dynastic matchmaking because hey, your kids grew up resenting the fact that you uprooted their lives and carried them off into uncertainty and danger for lacking the will to be separated from them, and you're not really sure what to do to avoid having to watch them grow old hating you besides trying to buy back their love. Annnd maybe at least one of them was kind of an asshole and actively capitalised on that anxiety because, you know, having a parent capable and motivated to get you that shit is an astronomically rare opportunity.

So what you're saying is that the children of Exalted are basically like... the children of the Noveau Riche, only with lots and lots of superpowers instead of money? Wonder how the parties are like....

[Isator Levi]

Why do you think there should be an overarching need for them to *not* bring their children along?

Because it's dangerous, or unfair.

For starters, no parent would really want to be separated from their child.

This is incorrect. So many parents want to be separated from their children, a heartbreaking number. I have personally in real life known no less than three people who had a parent that walked out on them. In the grand scheme of things, that can actually be the best outcome for a a child whose patent wants to be shot of them.

It is also irrelevant. There are numerous circumstances in which a parent is required to spend great lengths of time away from children that they do want to be around, a heartbreaking number. I myself have a cousin who works on an oil rig, no place for his children is that, and there are several other professions with similar constraints, or other life circumstances that force such a thing.

Also, there could be fear of alienation.

Also a source of compelling drama.

Farming communities, at least as I understand them in the old days (apologies for the generalization) are xenophobic, insular, and hell for those who are ostracised. Do you really want your kids to grow up as 'The kids of the woman who turned Anathema'? They could be ostracized, shunned, starved, or even banished or sold as slaves because who would want to be associated with them?

Obviously I described a scenario in which the Exalt is not an outsider. Even in circumstances where a neighbor whom you might trust children with would be against you as Anathema, they might still care for the children enough to not want them caught in the crossfire.

Jeez, don't bring up that families can be left in the care of allies and follow up with a dispute when I point out allies that they could be left with.

And also, leaving your kids behind means that there's the chance that they'll be used as leverage.

Taking them with you means that there's the chance that they'll be standing between you and an elemental bolt. Calculated risks abound.

Never mind the fact that I addressed this subject in the actual post.

[Reighnhell]

Re: Dependents

For a story that center's around the Exalt and their relationships with their dependents, it is hard to make over-arching generalities. Each character is going to approach these decisions differently, and how they approach them will become things that define who the character is and what will be the most interesting stories to tell.

Ask what the decision to take your kids with you on your adventures (or leave them at home) says about the character. I would even make sure the dependents have their own personality and ideas, if only to create interactions with more verisimilitude.

I would recommend a strong blend of bitter and sweet. If the dependent is just a target for every enemy, then the player (not the character) will start making characters that don't have any real attachments. And I consider attachments are a big part of what makes Exalted work (at least for me). Too much sweet, and a real sense of tension is lost, and tension makes for better stories.

[JohnDoe244]

Yeah JohnDoe244 , I was more thinking of the various shit that comes around when you play 'wandering mercenary' and you have a younger sister or son with you. Changes a lot of things. Like the possible amounts of trauma she gets.

Yeah, I immediately insist you read Lone Wolf and Cub. Or at least watch the 1980 film adaptation "Shogun Assassin".

The entire premise is that the Emperor's personal executioner's (the most dangerous warrior in all Japan) wife murdered and he is forced into exile thanks to the political machinations of the Emperor's arch-enemies. He wanders the land as a sword-for-hire, bringing justice to the empire and vengeance upon his enemies in loyal service to an emperor who wants him dead. He kills armies and reinvents warfare...

... whilst pushing his infant son around in a baby carriage.

It is the most Exalted thing I've ever read.

[Eldagusto]

Yeah, I immediately insist you read Lone Wolf and Cub. Or at least watch the 1980 film adaptation "Shogun Assassin".

The entire premise is that the Emperor's personal executioner (the most dangerous warrior in all Japan) has his wife murdered and is forced into exile thanks to the political machinations of the Emperor's arch-enemies. He wanders the land as a sword-for-hire, bringing justice to the empire and vengeance upon his enemies in loyal service to an emperor who wants him dead. He kills armies and reinvents warfare...

... whilst pushing his infant son around in a baby carriage.

It is the most Exalted thing I've ever read.

Yeah my mind jumps to that immediately. Or my 2.5 game where a Player layed a golden egg, and the egg hatched a Golden Snakebaby. She was a Lunar Snakewoman in my version of Halta. But she was famous dancer diva so its not quite the same as say being a farmer.

[BrilliantRain]

I can imagine a great campaign where you take a random Satrapy, have several people in the satrapy Exalt as various types of Anathema, and they depose the Satrap and kick out the Realm (or at least try to) and then have to deal with keeping the place together while preparing for one of the Houses to send a Legion or two to make a point.

...Or maybe they fail and have to run away and become robin hood or something.

Either way, having each player create two dependents and an enemy would be a great way to add depth and texture and stakes to the whole thing.

[Sith_Happens]

Four words: Tiger-Warrior Training Technique

[TheCountAlucard]

Four words: Tiger-Warrior Training Technique

Great for battle groups, but doesn't do anything exceptional for individuals.