Talk:Sins of the Fathers

Some info so you can start thinking about characters: Cathak Aden is graduating from the House of Bells and has invited you to join him on an adventure because you are his best friend from childhood/best friend at the House of Bells/favorite cousin/etc. If you are at the House of Bells, he asked you in person, otherwise, he asked you by letter. You have already agreed to go, even though he has not told you what his plans are. He says he will announce the adventure at his graduation party, which you are invted to with your families, 10 days after graduation. You will leave soon after that. The game calender will start the day of your graduation.

The characters are young so I would suggest no backgrounds over three dots. That isnt a rule though. Different backgrounds make more or less sense for a young exalt. IE, the family background has nothing to do with age, but influence takes a life time to build up. Keep in your head the idea of young characters that have yet to go out into the world and prove themselves. Your stipend is probably resources 2 or 3 depending on the family you come from. We will be using the custom currency rules we came up with. It would be normal for you to take a few servants with you or something like that while traveling. An ally might be another recent grad. Dont bring any 3 dot allies or 30 soldiers with you though. After the game starts, backgrounds will be given and lost based on ingame actions. They will cost nothing, but can be lost as well. I will generally use them to reward the characters based on their actions. Find an artifact? Keep it. Save a princess? Gain some influence or reputation. Kill innocents? Gain reputation. Piss off your family? Gain a penalty to your stipend. Etc.

Questions? Thoughts? Let me know. --Macabreengel 13:11, 27 April 2011 (EDT)

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What if I don't want to go???

Just kidding. I'll start the wheels turning. --FyreFly 14:32, 27 April 2011 (EDT)

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Some more info:

First, the family background really sucks, but I like the idea. Family is important in the Realm. The family background is now going to be part influence and part mentor. First, for each family member, you get a plus one to social rolls involving a particular part of DB society. This part is just like the part in the book. Your famous general father gives you a +1 to dealing with the legions. Second, for each dot of Family, you get a +1 to social rolls dealing with your House (big H house, ie Cathak, etc). At 3 or 4 points, you also get a +1 to social rolls outside your House. At 5 points it becomes +2. Your name carries weight, your family has connections, people listen. The other members of the houses will have this rating too, and they will cancel eachother out. Third, living members act as mini mentors. Your general uncle isnt going to take a month out of his scheduale to teach you the finer points of melee 5, but he will help you more than a standard contact will. The Drawback: Family honor. The more important your family name, the more damage you can do to it. The family will expect you to honor that name. A family of generals will not look kindly on you turning tail and fleeing danger while your companions fight for their lives. Swearing an oath on your family name means that your whole families honor is on the line if you go back on your word. As a result, your family trait can be temporarily lowered until you redeem yourself. Additionally, the living family members that act as mini mentors can also ask you to perform tasks for the family. I think the result is a powerful background that will add a lot of layers to the politics of realm life. Thoughts?

Second, just to clarify, backgrounds like family and breeding should ignore the not over three dot suggestion. I dont think there are any more, but correct me if I am wrong. Note: I am not saying DONT have trait over three, just have a really good reason why someone so young and untested has been given so much.

Third, artifact armor will keep the ratings in the book so the original artifact 4 armor does not become pointless, and I will reduce attunement cost by more than one in the case of heavier armor.

Fourth, familiars will use the more powerful rules.

Fifth, I am going to detail some info about my main NPC/ST PC so that you can look at ways that our characters know eachother. The characters dont have to be super close, just close enough that Aden would have asked you and you would have been convinced without him telling you anything about the journey. He is the grandson of the head of the house of Cathak and his parents first child. Both his family rating and his breeding are going to be 4 or 5. He went to the House of Bells and is graduating at the same time as the other characters. He was probably near the head of the class. He is fire aspected. He tends to feel strongly about things and has a fiery passion. He friends and enemies are both likely to be for life. He has probably had an above average number of lovers for his age. While his passion was intense, he has not been in love. When he falls in love, it will most likely be for life. I dont plan on his future wife being decided already, but if you want to go there, we can. He is charasmatic and attractive, but not very manipulative. He is just over average in hight for an exalt and has an athletic build. He is not exceptionally bright but can think on his feet.

Sixth, beginning of game play. The first day of play begins on graduation day. I will have to decide the month and day that is. You have agreed to go to Aden's graduation party about a week after graduation, and you know that you leave for the journey about a week after that. The rest of that two weeks will be filled with other social events we come up with for your character depending on your background and such.

Seventh, if you want your character to receive a daiklaive from his family for graduation or something like that, that is fine even though you are not technically starting with it.

I am trying to cover everything here. Start posting ideas for your characters and questions. Or post rough draft character sheets, or finished ones. I want to see some stuff. Lets get going. --Macabreengel 13:15, 2 May 2011 (EDT)

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Two character ideas (slight variations on the same theme)

1.) V'Neef Dragosz: Grandson of V'Neef, great grandson of the Scarlet Empress (My understanding is that I don't have much of a choice in this matter, since V'Neef is very small - I'm not sure a younger generation exists, but I could be wrong), extremely high birth. Showed a talent for politicking at a young age, but pressure from his mother and grandmother to enter the political arena instilled in him a distaste for social maneuvering. Considered too important to fully neglect, his parents begrudgingly supported his decision to enter the Heptagram. Indeed, despite his intent to rebel, Dragosz's own motivations for entering the Heptagram were undoubtedly autocratic - it was his naive observation as a child that, given enough time, sorcery will trump all other powers (After all, the Empress and her most prodigal child, Mnemon, were originally known above all else for their magical prowess). As he matured, he became privy to the nuances of how the Realm ended up as it is, and realized that an army of summoned demons and stormwind riders can't fix a fundamentally flawed system. Nevertheless, a capable student and intellectual prodigy, Dragosz excelled at the Heptagram. Though a capable sorcerer, he isn't all that interested in pursuing sorcery as a full-time career; he feels that if civil war is to be prevented in the Realm, they must adopt an entirely new system of government. The problem is, despite seeing the problems, Dragosz doesn't have any ideas for solutions, so he wants to see the Threshold, hoping he'll pick up some wisdom that might allow him to positively contribute to the Realm's future when he returns. He is particularly interested in history, economic systems, and the impact of large-scale sorcery (i.e. though he knows he'll never be able to cast it, he'd rather figure out what the Solars did to make the First Age architecture and standard of living so high instead of cast minor spells of his own. He'll start with a few spells but the character will probably trend away from sorcery - with the exception of public works and agricultural stuff - and move toward being a sort of public administrator, styled after the Dragon-Blooded prefects of the First Age).

It's noted that V'Neef is a source of firedust - I'd like to have him gifted a plasma tongue repeater (arti 2) or high quality flame piece by his father, who will have likely passed away at the start of the story. I sort of want to paint a picture of him as a more modern Renaissance man who'd dress in the most contemporary style and prefer gadgets like flame pieces and shield projectors to "old-fashioned" swordsmanship.

I'm imagining "Dragosz" being Wood-tongue (Most or all Exalted members of V'Neef are Wood aspected, including Dragosz) for "Of the Dragons".

I'll post the other one later.

Dan 14:08, 2 May 2011 (EDT)

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First of all... Did Dan K just demand wiki content? Whoa...

Anyway, I've got two different character concepts I've been working up and I think both would generally fit okay. I'll post a bit on both of them and you can let me know if either would be way better or worse for the SL, but I'll probably pretty much decide on whichever I like best.

1) Cloister of Wisdom Graduate: A member of House Tepet with decent standing, likely and exalted parent with the House, but without much interest the Houses business. Never did care much for warfare. Prepared to take the oaths to become a Immaculate Monk upon graduation, however shortly before graduation members of Tepet have requested he chose a different path in order to help their House in their time of need. With the Tepet legions depleted ideally he would join the legions and immediately find a suitable wife to begin providing the House children with Dragon-Blooded lineage. Character has promised to at least consider it. Going on trip with Aden in hopes of finding the answer to this difficult decision. Character would likely be a distant cousin, but close childhood friend of Aden. They attended primary school together before choosing different academies, I would imagine these characters remained close by writing each other with relative frequency during secondary school.

2) Palace of Tamed Storm Graduate: House is currently undecided for this character though Cathak is highly likely. (This requires some general approval from you Dan, as it builds into Aden's background a bit more.) Would have some breeding and family ties but much weaker than Aden's. He was a close relative of Aden's and childhood friend, but the two of them got into some serious trouble in one incident. (I was thinking some sort of major mistake, not necessarily something with much mal-intent.) When it came to taking the blame for the incident he took all of the blame, saving Aden from taking a share of the dishonor, though he did so without the request of Aden who was prepared to except his consequences. As a result of taking the full blame for the incident he was rejected by the four main secondary schools and instead was sent to the Palace of Tamed Storm, while Aden's record remained untouched. I figure these characters would have a strong sense of loyalty to one another, though not necessarily be in close contact. It is probably difficult to write from the Palace of Tamed Storm and its probably frowned upon for someone like Aden to be writing someone who is there, at least with much frequency. This character would likely be a sort of jack of all trades character with some shady morals, though still retain at least some of his sense of honor from his childhood. Likely destined to be headed toward The All Seeing Eye or becoming an Archon for the magistrates.

--FyreFly 16:36, 2 May 2011 (EDT)

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Possible theme: A group of friends in primary school get pulled seperate ways and are coming back together now that they have finished secondary school. If Tony wants to go with character 2, we could have been friends and the group fell apart after the event that got his character in trouble. Each of us could then decide how our characters dealt/deal with the guilt of letting him take the fall and how our families handled it. Thoughts? --Macabreengel 09:33, 3 May 2011 (EDT)

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This is definitely possible. I should note that I'm also considering playing a soldier, someone who attended the House of Bells. If I use him, I think he'd be a great foil for Aden - he'd be a Water Aspect, probably from House Peleps. Let's call him Peleps Caedmon. He's laid back and infinitely patient - he considers himself too young and naive to truly make a judgment about the state of the Realm. He and Aden may have met in primary school, or this guy could be the outsider in the group - the new guy Aden befriended at the House of Bells. Either way, we'll think about it. Compared to Aden, he's probably a bit less determined, a bit less athletic, a lot less ambitious, and a bit more clever. That said, I picture them both being capable warriors and having reasonably high appearances - they probably both had a lot of bedmates throughout school and enjoyed time near the top of the social pyramid. Despite being a clever guy, his bouts of laziness probably placed him below Aden in their graduating class. He's less outgoing than Aden sounds, but would be a little more manipulative - he's probably not afraid to use this skill. His birth would not be as high as Aden's - he likely only has one Exalted parent, but his family worked hard to secure him admission to the House of Bells. His family has admonished him for what they perceive to be a lack of ambition, but they aren't exactly correct - Caedmon has it in his head that he'd like reform the military organizational structure someday (He thinks the notion of each house having its standing army is a recipe for civil war), but he has no idea how he'd do it and only a shaky one of why he'd want to - he's wise (or cowardly) enough to consider the possibility that he might still be a foolish young Exalt with a lot to learn. With that in mind and no desire to immediately enter military service, he'd happily agree to join Aden on his journey, hoping to get a better understanding of the world at large and process the validity of his own ambitions. In the long term, he's probably bound for a position as a Naval or Legion officer, although I could see him eventually becoming a House of Bells professor or politician with strong military ties.

After having written this and thought about it, I am strongly leaning towards playing this character. Dan 11:58, 3 May 2011 (EDT)

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I think that character would work really well too. While headstrong, I am planning to have Aden be a team guy at heart. Aden's main strength is putting together a good team and using everyone's strengths. I imagine that is how he got to the head of his class despite not being particularly bright. The book says that the House of Bells focuses heavily on the unit/team not on the individual. I can see the two characters becoming friends and then quickly learning to rely on eachothers strengths and cover eachothers weaknesses. The groups background with eachother will probably depend on what Brian is planning. I know he said he wanted to do some more reading before he put ideas down. I dont know if you want to take it this way, but we could do a real yin-yang thing with it. Aden being traditional, straightforward, and uncreative. Meanwhile your character would be inventive, adaptable, but thought of as dishonorable or underhanded. Your character wouldnt actually be dishonorable and mine wouldnt actually be so unimaginative. Special Ops vs Shock and Awe. --Macabreengel 12:40, 3 May 2011 (EDT)

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I'm still totally split on my two characters, but either way they know Aden from his childhood/primary school days. With DH's character its probably less critical that I play the Palace of Tamed Storm Graduate, but still leaves it open. I'll do some more thinking on it soon. --FyreFly 15:04, 3 May 2011 (EDT)

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No rush. You can always wait to see what Brian comes up with andgo from there. --Macabreengel 12:41, 4 May 2011 (EDT)

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More about the family background? Ok, go! Note: it only applies to your immediat-ish family. I am going to rule that is grandparents, parents, siblings, children, and maybe grandkids. Any more extended and we would all have to have 5+ in that background. Also, later chapters (if we get to them) will involve a decent amount of politics, so at some point I want to really flesh out the chacaters backgrounds and important NPCs to the characters. Some of the can be done after we start though. The first chapter will be away from the Blessed Isle, so politics wont be as much of a factor. --Macabreengel 16:00, 5 May 2011 (EDT)

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Background info: Assuming your character has backing 1 in his or her House, your salary is resources 2. It can be adjusted up or down passed on your special circumstances. --Macabreengel 12:49, 10 May 2011 (EDT)

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Dan, I noticed you didn't take any command. Presumably Aden and Caedmon will eventually return to the Realm, where they'll probably be put in charge of troops of some kind (I might be drawing assumptions for Aden that I don't actually know the truth of, but this is at least what I imagine for Caedmon). Since we're doing backgrounds on a story award basis, do I need to buy the command I eventually intend to have now, or will this be given to Caedmon if we arrive at a point in the story where he's in command of a unit?

Dan 13:16, 10 May 2011 (EDT)

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Caedmon would receive the appropriate increase in Backing Legions, Command, resources, etc when he enlists. You should just take the backgrounds you would have a few days after graduation. So if you want to be given an artifact from your parents as a present for graduation, take that. I imagine that the House would let you attune to some manses right after graduation. Stuff like that. Everything else you should have when you graduate. If you want something to be an exception, just let me know and we will discuss. As a side note, I decided that resources 2 would be more appropriate for a recent grad. The book states that its really not enough and most young Dynasts go looking for additional income quickly. I will be dropping Aden's resources to 2 when I figure out where I want to put that dot. lol --Macabreengel 14:59, 10 May 2011 (EDT)

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Brian: Initial thoughts on your ally. She would be from House Sesus, as discussed. She went to the Heptagram in order to train to become a battle mage for the legions. You two met and quickly found friendship in your desire to work out in the Threshold. After a courtship lasting a number of years that you can work out in your own time, you decided to ask your houses for permission to marry. Both Houses agreed for reasons I can get into later. What are your thoughts? Do you like the idea? Anything you want to change? Want to scrap the idea altogether? If you want to move forward with this, I need to know some things. First, which of us is making the character? If me, we need to decide on an aspect. Fire probably makes the most sense as House Sesus's aspect. Air also makes sense because it would make Ledaal more likely to accept the marriage (which they have done already anyways), or Earth just because its the only aspect we dont have lol. Second, she would probably have mental and physical has her main attributes with social being third, are you cool with that? Third, when are you getting married? Before we leave for the trip or later? If before, it would explain why the characters were not at the grad party. It would be a rushed wedding though. If we stick with the original plan of you just being at the Heptagram late, would she go to the grad party? It would seem, yes. You cool with that? Anything else? --Macabreengel 12:11, 17 May 2011 (EDT)

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More information and ST rulings: Artifact armor: Artifact 1, -1 commitment and 1 hearthstone slot. Artifact 2, -1 commitment and 2 hearthstone slots. Artifact 3, -1 commitment, 2 hearthstone slots. Artifact 4, -2 commitment, and 2 hearthstone slots. Artifact 5, -3 commitment and 3 hearthstone slots. These changes are just for the armor in the core rule book. Compared to fancy armors, these are striped down, but easy on essence. Does that work for you guys? Second, Dan's hawk, assuming he still goes with that. The general abilities of familiars: Immortality- can only be killed if the character is killed first or with powerful magic like god killing charms. Essence Pool- character gains 5 additional motes if the familiar is on the characters person, doesn't have to be physical contact. Sense-sharing- The two can share a sense as long as they are within Essence miles of each other. Communication- low level/less intelligent animals can understand their owner and vice versa. Intelligent/powerful creatures can speak languages, the first learned will be his owner's native tongue. The difference between a pet and a familiar is that the two's essence link and fate strands have become intertwined. So the connection between Cad's hawk and him would be closer than the average owner of one of these hawks. Additionally, a hawk is a little weak for a familiar one. I suggest making it special in some way, ie, larger and stronger than normal, more intelligent, etc. Or expanding on its innate powers, like communication upped to telepathy or larger essence pool or something new. Finally, allies, mentors, familiars, exp, and crap. Allies gain 80% of in game experience, no story experience, and 100% of out of game experience. They gain 80% of backgrounds during downtime and 100% earned during "sessions." Mentors are eventually surpassed by their students. While not being static, your mentors will not gain in power as quickly as characters. If you do not want to surpass your mentor, you can spend your down time background points on increasing their power. If you do surpass them, we can discuss them becoming allies or influence dots. Familiars gain power either by spending background dots on them or by using charms that make them more powerful. Ok, I think thats everything. Any questions? --Macabreengel 22:06, 5 June 2011 (EDT)

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I know I've still got some work to do on my character - I'm caught up right now finishing a final project for my last class, so until this Wednesday, I'm just going to keep up with replies (which I'm pretty sure I have time to do comfortably), then after the project I'm going to finish statting out Cad (hearthstones, familiar, etc.) and writing his background. Would that work? I was banking on us not having departed the Blessed Isle by Wednesday.

Dan 12:00, 6 June 2011 (EDT)

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As in two days? Yeah, you have plenty of time. By the time the gala ends and we introduce Brian, I imagine we will be well past Wednesday. Also, I described how Cad and Aden meant in Aden's background, if you wanted to go with something else, just let me know. --Macabreengel 15:08, 6 June 2011 (EDT)