Nexan Interlude

Exalted is a flat earth mystical place where the players choose mythical demideities to play, there's at least 10 different types. Those demideities called exalts are partially human and end up more powerful than some, but not all the full-fledged deities, being created as weapons in a deity-on-titans full on heaven war.   As the exalts' side won, some of the titans surrendered and some of them died, which they hadn't built infrastructure for, so they couldn't really die. Ooops. Oh and three switched sides, the three that were responsible for creating useful stuff, like the world, and people and exalts.   Some of the exalts were picked to rule the world while the main deities who'd started all this developed a dangerous addiction.   Then centuries later, some of the other exalts decided to stage a coup. Then, still later, some of the other exalts conquered various parts of the world, then there was an invasion from something outside reality, things older than the first titans. And because some of the gits that want to destroy the world have no idea of timing, there was a huge plague that killed as much as 90% of the people.   The world is mostly recovering, there is much strife and corruption, and uneven levels of technology and knowledge.   There are deplorable things like slavery and magical mind control, drugs, the whole list. In the wild places East, there are dinosaurs living on the clearings atop the branches of trees so large, you need binoculars to see the top, and out west, the sea is so deep, no one has ever visited the bottom.   North is a cold, unforgiving tundra, south a burning desert that spawns gunpowder from time to time, as well as magma.   In the center, the Blessed Isle, ruled by the Dragon-blooded, the more "human" of the exalts, is on the brink of civil war.   In the near east, where our story takes place, three main city-states, Lookshy, Nexus and Great Forks act a little bit like Nato, in having a defensive alliance supported by free trade, but their goals are not aligned perfectly, and their means couldn't be different.   Great Forks is a theocracy where some of the not super-powerful deities live, either because they don't have a job that requires them to be elsewhere, they're snowbirds enjoying the climate, or they have some thing to their purview that makes them more comfortable in Creation than in Yu-Shan(heaven), three gods kinda run the show, the rules on god say this is illegal, but they have an understanding; The other players know a minister there, an ambassador and a few priests.   Lookshy inherited a working set of war-against-the-titans -scale ancient magical weaponry, and still organizes itself militarily, but with local aristocrats called gens to perform civilian duties(and power plays, think Roman consuls and senate and shenanigans). The players know the ambassadors, and a few of the diaspora   Nexus is where the player's home base is located. Think New York, Hong Kong or London, at their heyday. A mansion in the artists district got acquired off a sketchy cult.. The sketchy cult got taken over, and is being turned less sketchy. Various magical infrastructure is being discovered that protects the people, and keeps it from turning into more of a cesspool than it already is.

Slavery is illegal, technically, but the criminal gangs find ways to keep theirs, and criminals can be indentured for their crimes, which the criminals turn against one another.

The players know a little bit of everyone, including some power players, and have started Great Crane Transport, and other large import/export concerns, bringing goods from afar for a price.

The players recovered a flying ship, and so do fly over to various places, investigating plots by, among other people, the gits that want to destroy the universe

You get to play an exalt in this, I'll detail the choices in a later post.

Maybe twenty years ago, the gits that want to destroy the universe conquered the city of Thorns. In Thorns, those that could, fled, many to Nexus, and the party(called a circle in the book, and in-universe as "Those from 12 carnelian peaches" i.e. their address, like 221B Baker Street for Sherlock) has been helping many of the refugees, but one of the criminal gangs has also, creating a dynamic that's not entirely clear

Nexus asked the circle to investigate why a flying mountain/island had crossed the nearby area under their protection,, and caused havoc, this led the circle to the Empire of Prasad, a southerly polity previously landlocked, that had just conquered Y'danna, a large, politically stagnant city on the Dreaming Sea, a large trading power nearby. The circle's investigation found a plot by one of the "Gits" known by her proper name as The Lover Clad In The Raiment of Tears, who has been sparring with the circle for some time. Her plot involved flying ships, and is not restricted to Prasad, the circle's investigation is still ongoing.

The Flying Island/Mountain is also clearly linked to the same plot, and was brought out of its normal place by shenanigans by The Lover

I have a few Storyteller characters, like Seline, aka Flying Eiderdown, Sidereal Chosen of Secrets Scurrilous Minx, Air-Aspected Dragon-blooded sorceress Your options are: Solar: chosen of the sun, exemplars of virtues and can't give-up-ness, Champions and Lawgivers Lunar: chosen of the moon, malleable and adaptable, with shapechanging powers Dragon-blooded: most common exalted, who inherit their power, and considered "The salt of the earth", mostly work well with others, depending on location end up being aristocrats, soldiers, priests but can be anything really, like really all the types Alchemical exalted: mechanical chosen, blessed by the Great Maker to build things and reinforce communities Abyssal exalted: almost-dead chosen of the Neverborn, in service to a dark lord(the "gits"), often called Death's Knights, Dreadknights, etc, follow the Chivalry of Death and infiltrate Creation to help it die Infernal exalted: chosen of the Titans, rebels to their toes, anarchs empowered by rebellion and defiance, often with snazzy colors and demonic shapes Liminal exalted: undead chosen, more like reawakened souls, but in Exalted, death is one way, so they look like the people they were, but they are not. Trying to prevent undead overcrowding and serial killers, among other things, by acting like underworld police. Vetoed Exalt types: Exigent: chosen of specific gods, mechanically, build-your-own-exalt, too complicated for a new player Sidereal: agents of heaven know far too much, and are mechanically very very complicated for someone with no exalted experience Getimian: the chosen of destinies that were prevented are very very complicated for someone with no exalted experience