From Out of a Dream [Quest]

[wonderandawe]

Finally have time and brain power to compile my thoughts on the quest.

1. I'm kind of envious of your decision to run your quest without the weight of Exalted's metaplot. I think it made for a lightweight fun story that left me in suspense all the time.

2. I like how Nergui grew as a character over the course of the quest. I even liked his small backslide into alcoholism which has great consequences.

3. My favorite chapter was the Yu-Shan chapter with the first chapter with the Golem fight a close second. (I think the Character Creation chapters are favorites of mine in general). The chapter with the Sun-Blessed was my least favorite, but not because it wasn't well written. I think I got frustrated with how naive they all were.

4. The only criticism I have is almost every choice seems to a heavy choice. What I mean by that is all the choices lead to more problems which lead to more choices with more problems. There was a point with the Sun-Blessed chapter were I was like "Man, everything we do seems to cause problems." It may be better to mix heavy choices with lighter choices to give the heavy choices more impact and have the lighter choices break the tension if needed. Shakespeare was famous for having a light scene after a heavy scene to break the tension.

5. I did like how you varied the dialogue based on the language spoken. Octavia Butler does this in her books sometimes. When someone starts talking in the native dialect of Wild Seed's main characters, she starts the conversation with "Are you well?" instead of "Hello".

Otherwise it was a great quest! I had a lot of fun. I am looking forward to playing Ash.


Also, what was the deal with the Sidereals and the shard?

[semicasual]

Also, what was the deal with the Sidereals and the shard?

I'm glad you asked!

In my headcanon, an Exigent exaltation exists as a literal shard of Sol's power. The god who it is assigned to is meant to take the shard is meant to cut themselves with it, symbolically sacrificing their blood to the Sun as they literally sacrifice a part of their power to create an exigent exalt. But, sometimes, a shard loses its way. It might end up in the hands of a particularly unscrupulous deity, like Ozdis, who might want it for themselves or to trade for other illegal favors. Sidereals, of course, have a strong interest in tracking down stolen shards. But they might not all do it for the same reasons.

Tal-of-the-Ways wanted the shard to give to his secret master, Rakan Thulio.

Silk Butterfly did not know for certain that Ozdis had the shard. She was aware that a shard was missing (everyone in the Bureau of Destiny got that memo), took a stab in the dark, and got lucky. But she would ensure that the shard was either sent to its rightful recipient or, if the recipient were dead (which sometimes happens), returned to the Unconquered Sun.

Mnemon Yos and his circlemates were part of an investigation team looking for a traitor in the Sidereal ranks and gods dealing in black-market exigence. They are the ones who arranged for an Exigent shard to be requested and then lost, to use as bait. This was very difficult to do, which is why it was so frustrating for them to find out some random 'hero' had stumbled into the middle of their long sting operation. Otgonbayar basically ruined their plan right at its climax. If Otgonbayar had not surrendered the shard, if Tal had not underestimated Otgonbayar's strength, or if Otgonbayar had not been cooperative when questioned, who knows what might have happened?

You, the players, decided to keep Otgonbayar laser-focused on his personal goals, so he never learned any of this. You wound up making what were arguably the "best" choices by chance. As it is, there are five or six people who are all probably going to become gold faction supporters as a result of this experience. The first living Solar any of them have ever met personally convinced them that such power has to be guided, since it is too powerful to contain, too dangerous to ignore, and too stupid to trust.

Oh, and before anyone asks - an additional headcanon is that Sidereals do not have death squads. At all. The notion that these overtasked bureaucrat-adventurers could suddenly deploy a strike team of ninjas to kill a Solar in Heaven or anywhere else is laughable. A Solar in Heaven could be cause for worry, but there is no heavenly law against their presence. On the contrary, the amount of residual respect the gods have for the Sun's Chosen would make killing a Solar Exalt in Yu Shan a political nightmare. It would take an extraordinary situation - like a Solar committing a string of crimes and directly interfering in a Sidereal circle's operations - for the Bureau to take as much interest as Mnemon Yos' circle did. Even then, Yos' plan if Otgonbayar would not go quietly would have been to let the Celestial Lions do most of the work and not endanger his circle unnecessarily.

[Ferryman]

too powerful to contain, too dangerous to ignore, and too stupid to trust.

It's terribly unfair to Otgonbayar, because he's not at all stupid. But I will forever think of him this way.

[semicasual]

It's terribly unfair to Otgonbayar, because he's not at all stupid. But I will forever think of him this way.

Not gonna lie - part of the fun for me of having Otgonbayar go to heaven was just to have a rube from Creation's sticks try to make his way in a world he was completely ignorant of.