Dubious canon indeed.

I let you give a look to the Abyssal Previews.

Have you an idea of the caste you want and your areas of focus (from the backstory I would said Combat, Presence and bit of Necromancy)?

And tell me if you want a particular element in game.

The main issue now is that characterization of the Lover changed, from hedonistic mass seducer mastermind to cruel witch-queen. Not sure how to reconcile that with my mental image of the Deathlord that Rain serves. ALso need to read up more on the Abyssals in general and see what they changed. Death's chivalry is being heavily emphasized here, but it doesn't seem to mean anything so far.

And yeah, I'm looking at Apocalyptic Melee + War. Would also like to try out the Dance branch of Performance because you can literally dance through battles with it. Unfortunately Arise and Slaughter is Essence 2 so she can't call up units of ghosts yet, but the flavor of the War Charms is perfect for me, things like speaking to the dead and convincing them to serve her rather than just brute force binding them with necromancy.

EDIT:

After reading her entry in the AByssals book, they managed to flesh her out much better than in 2e while still staying true to the character she had there, so I guess I'm going with her.

As for stuff I'd like to see, I'm envisioning a Command of war ghosts backing her up with a Retainer or two as a lieutenant. Fighting the Bull of the North is a big one, as well as a climactic confrontation with her ex-lover. Either it makes her decide to go for redemption as a Solar or brings him over to her side, I'm sure it'll be great either way.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:26, Tue 12 Dec 2023.

For Death Chivalry it's Preview 1, p11-12.

Yeah, I just read it. So far Abyssals feel like Solars, but after learning lessons from the other splats they released in the meantime.

I have the raw outline for the first story: Your Abyssal will be asked by some ghosts free their homeland from House Sesus (or maybe another Northern power if you don't want go against the Realm yet) and retablish the ancestor cults who had been stiffled by the Immaculate Faith. I may take some inspiration from the Civil War part of Skyrim.

Good idea for you ? Or do you find it go against the wandering knight idea?
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:08, Wed 13 Dec 2023.

Sounds good to me. To be honest Rain doesn't have much attachment to the Realm either since it was their policies which separated her from her beloved.

So how you find the Abyssal Preview?

It's actually pretty good. Mechanics-wise, it reads like a polished version of the Solar tree; Abyssal War feels complete, for instance, and there are fewer dice tricks except for for when parity to Solars is needed.

Merry Christmas.

Happy to hear you like Abyssal. Among the Exalts, the Abyssal were my less favourite but they managed to have me interested.

Happy New Year.

I am finishing the game preparatif. Have you advanced on your character?

I actually don't know where to start. From mortal life, already Exalted, or somewhere in between? I do know how I want to proceed for those points though. Once I finalize with you I can go right ahead.

Unless you wanted otherwise, I think the best would be begining just after your character quit the service of the Lover, so already Exalted and with good knowledge of the Underworld.

Sounds good to me.

I was looking at one of the merits for the Pact With An Ifrit Lord shaping ritual and noticed that there was a 2-dot Merit called The Burning Name, which gave you a light mundane thrown weapon made of fire for 2 dots. Would it be possible to get an artifact sword wielded with the standard Dexterity + Melee for 5 dots, requiring 5 motes commitment as normal? Call it Ghost-Fire Blade.

EDIT: Alternately a soulsteel version of Stormcaller would do.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:27, Thu 04 Jan.

Something like this:

Rain of Bloody Tears
"I am no good at love."
Dusk Caste Abyssal Exalted



A pale, skinny (almost skeletal, in fact) teenager with a melancholy look on her face at all times. She always looks like she's on the verge of crying and has dark rings around her eyes. Yet her voice is strangely enchanting, and those who believe her stick-thin limbs to be weak soon learn, to their detriment, that they contain the strength of a fallen angel. Her hair is black with threads of red in it and her eyes are the color of blood.

Anima: A storm of phantasmal blood pours down from above, leaving spider lilies that slowly fade away when the droplets splash on the ground.

Intimacies:
Defining Tie: Tepet Vergus Makashi (love)
Defining Tie: The Bull's Barbarians (genocidal hatred)
Defining Principle: "I must find him."
Defining Principle: "I must keep myself pure for him."
Major Principle: Honor the dead, who are free of life's suffering.
Major Principle: "I am a tainted creature?"
Major Principle: Keep your word, because it goes before you.
Major Tie: Barbarians (contempt)
Major Tie: Her unit, the Black Rose Knights (camaraderie)
Minor Tie: The Lover Clad In The Raiment of Tears (lust and fear)
Minor Tie: The Bull of the North (hatred)
Minor Tie: The Realm (contempt)
Minor Tie: Dragonblooded who are not Makashi (contempt)

ATTRIBUTES
Str 5
Dex 5
Sta 1

Cha 5
Man 1
App 2

Int 5
Per 1
Wit 3

ABILITIES
(A) Melee 5 (2 BP) (Vs. Essence Channellers +1)
- Elegant Flowing Deflection
- Death Well-Remembered
- Oblivion Devours All
- Five-Shadow Feint
- Unfurling Iron Lotus
- Time-Scything Technique
- Instant Murder Flash x2
(C) Athletics 3
(C) Brawl 3
(C) War 5 (2 BP) (The Dead +1)
- Forsaken Legion's General
- Loyal Unto Death
(C) Ride 0

(F) Integrity 1
(F) Occult 3
- Ivory Circle Necromancy
(F) Presence 5 (2 BP) (Intimidation +1)
(F) Stealth 5 (2 BP) (Ambushes +1)
- Moonless Night Absence
- Flawless Assassination Style
(F) Survival 1
- Pomegranates Full And Fine

Lore 1
Performance 3
- Morbid Fascination Style
- Sanguine Revel Celebrant
Socialize 1

NECROMANCY
Initiation: Hollow Envoy Wisdom (Bound Soul Wellspring)
Ivory Circle: Summon Ghost

MERITS
03 - Fast Reflexes
05 - Huskflayer
05 - Command (Size 5, Elite Drill, Might 1 war ghosts) (3 BP)
01 - Languages 1 (Old Realm, High Realm native)

Essence 1
Personal 13
Peripheral 33(28 - 5 committed)
HLs: -0/-1/-1/-2/-2/-4/Incap
Willpower: 5/5

BP Spending
02 - Melee 3 to 5
02 - Presence 3 to 5
02 - Stealth 3 to 5
02 - War 3 to 5
03 - App 1 to 2
03 - Command 2 to 5
01 - Languages (Old Realm)
This message was last edited by the player at 07:44, Fri 12 Jan.

Not bad.

Are you sure you want Sorcery and not Necromancy (most Sorcery spells have a Necromatic counterpart).

For the Merit Ghost-Fire Blade: it is an artefact or a sorcerous merit that make an attack with a Daiklave profil? Or have do you prefer Stormcaller?

I'll stick with the modified Stormcaller, less stuff to adjudicate. Make it soulsteel instead of orichalcum and change Divine Tempest Blade to reference Elegant Bloodletting Art instead of Hungry Tiger Technique. The backstory doesn't have to change much either, say it was used to bind a thunder god or demon and only bloodshed or a good drink can soothe it.

I'll go look at necromancy again. Unfortunately I don't think there's a shadowlands (first) circle spell that raises undead...
This message was last edited by the player at 00:42, Fri 05 Jan.

Agreed on Stormcaller, it can created from Soulsteel comming from a Hekatonkhires.

For Necromancy, the First Circle has Raise the Skeletal Horde (create a Battlegroup of Zombie) or Summon Ghost (if you want more supernatural undead).

THose look interesting. I foudn the Indiegogo page, I'll look further into those spells.

I changed the spell to Ivory Circle Necromancy - Summon Ghost, mainly because it seems more fun for investigation purposes and for avenging the dead. Plus I think she would cast it as often as possible to see if her beloved was dead yet and be secretly happy when the spell fails. I think I will have her pick up Terrestrial Circle Sorcery separately at some point.

Sheet should be done now, but I need to keep sticking more Intimacies onto her.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:28, Sun 07 Jan.

I am ready to launch the game. I will open it soon so kept an eye on it.

Two things:

-Your character have 1 in guile and resolve and no way to boost them. That okay for you ?

-What will be your birth tongue. Most of the people you meet will either talk in Skytongue or Old Realm, but as a dynast it would be strange that you don't speak High Realm. Maybe have HR as birth tongue and Skytongue and OR as a merit (taking a point in Command)?

She was always the straightforward tomboy type before this, I figure coming back as a semi-stalker type doesn't exactly help that. She has 1 dot in Socialize and Integrity, I'm planning to bump those up later on with experienc to represent her rounding out more as a person.



I moved some points around for that, so her native language is High Realm and she has 1 point on Languages for Old Realm. Probably means she can't speak Skytongue but she doesn't care about that, she never liked the North much anyway.

Great, I have many hook with the number of intimacies.

For language, you will need to rely on a traductor (since you have a thousand war ghosts, that should not be to difficult to have). And I can consider it a flaw if you are in a situation where you need to understand without a traductor. Good for you ?

I will open the game tomorow or friday. I jus brought Across the Eight Direction (I put it on the Drive) and see if there something I like in the North section.

It works for me. War ghosts can animate a suit of armor so she can have a lieutenant to translate for her. Or she can just summon a ghost and let it possess her (Hollow Envoy Wisdom!) to share sensations or just enjoy being alive again while benefiting from advice/translation. There is one mote ritual which lets her drain a possessing ghost for motes if it gets uppity so there is that, though she won't use it unless the ghost tries to make her do something against her principles.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:18, Thu 11 Jan.

And the new game is up:

link to another game