Terrestrial Exalted
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| Terrestrial Exalted | |
|---|---|
  Exalted: The Dragon Blooded front cover, featuring the image of Peleps Deled, and The Manual of Exalted Power: Dragon-Blooded front cover, featuring the images of (from left to right) Mnemon, Peleps Deled, Tepet Ejava, the Roseblack, Denovah Avaku of Cynis and Tepet Arada. |
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| Designer(s) | Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded: Brian Armor (Author), Hal Mangold (Author) & James Maliszewski (Author). The Manual of Exalted Power: Dragon-Blooded: John Chambers (Developer), cover art by UDON. |
| Publisher(s) | White Wolf Publishing |
| Publication date | Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded: April, 2002. The Manual of Exalted Power: Dragon-Blooded: July 26, 2006 |
| Genre(s) | High fantasy |
| System | Storyteller |
The Terrestrial Exalted, also known as the Dragon-Blooded, are a sub-category of semi-divine heroes from the high fantasy role-playing game Exalted published by White Wolf Game Studio. Their society is outlined in the game's core rulebook, but they are given full attention in the "fatsplat" (hard-cover sourcebook) entitled Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded (ISBN 1-58846-656-6) and for second edition, The Manual of Exalted Power: Dragon-Blooded (ISBN 1-58846-688-4). Many readers have commented on the book's distinct resemblance to the world of Elric of Melniboné created by Michael Moorcock.
[edit] Overview
The central premise of Exalted is that gods have the ability to infuse ordinary mortals with a shard of their divine soul, exalting the individual into a demigod. The original Terrestrial Exalted were chosen by one of the five Elemental Dragons. In terms of raw power, the Dragon-Blooded are clearly the weakest of the five types of Exalted, but they compensate for their individual shortcomings with coordinated teamwork and sheer numbers (the Dragon-Blooded are the only Exalted type who are able to increase their numbers by breeding, and Dragon-Blooded nobility are expected to breed like rabbits; consequently, there are something like 10,000 Dragon-Blooded scattered across Creation, as opposed to approximately 150 Solars, 100 Abyssals, and 100 Sidereals).
During the First Age, the Exalted ruled an empire of unparalleled beauty. The three types of Celestial Exalted--the Solar Exalted, the Lunar Exalted and Sidereal Exalted--formed the upper ranks, while the Terrestrial Exalted were their loyal servants. But the Solars grew arrogant, and the Sidereal and Terrestrial Exalted schemed to overthrow them. After the Solars were slain, the myriad enemies of Creation attacked, and the world would have been destroyed had not a Dragon-Blooded officer not managed to puzzle out the secrets of the Imperial Manse and repel the invasion.
This woman would become known as the Scarlet Empress, and would rule the world from the Blessed Isle, a 4,400-mile long continent, for seven centuries. Five years ago, she inexplicably vanished. Now, with her children fighting for her throne, the enemies of Creation have returned, along with the Solars.
[edit] Gameplay
The Terrestrial Exalted are brave, arrogant, decadent and sophisticated. They believe themselves mentally, physically and spiritually superior to everyone else in the world, and few have challenged that claim, until recently. Eleven squabbling Great Houses compose the Dynasty of the empire:
- House Cathak: fire-aspected; militant expansionists; very disciplined.
- House Cynis: wood-aspected; idle hedonists and politicians.
- House Iselsi: water-aspected; almost exterminated; sneaky survivors and spymasters.
- House Ledaal; air-aspected; far-thinking strategists.
- House Mnemon; earth-aspected; devout believers; strongest family.
- House Nellens; no aspect; scorned for their common-tainted blood.
- House Peleps; water-aspected; conniving merchants, politicians and sailors.
- House Ragara; earth-aspected; financiers with everyone in their debt.
- House Sesus; fire-aspected; militant and specialized.
- House Tepet; air-aspected; recently suffered a devastating military loss.
- House V'neef; wood-aspected; adaptable; the youngest House.
While most Dragon-Blooded are born into (or quickly adopted by) one of the Great Houses, individuals need not manifest the same elemental aspect of their house. Each aspect shapes the personality and powers of the Terrestrial Exalted in a different way. All Dragon-Blooded share an affinity for jade, one of the five magical materials; jade itself comes in five different types, each with different powers, to match an aspect.
- Air-aspected (blue jade) are typically scholars, sorcerers and assassins.
- Earth-aspected (white jade) are craftsmen, monks, and generals.
- Fire-aspected (red jade) are socialites and soldiers.
- Water-aspected (black jade) are martial artists, marines, and criminals.
- Wood-aspected (green jade) are healers, archers, and rangers.
The children of the Dragon-Blooded are raised to expect Exaltation as their birthright, and are continually pushed to excel in all fields: academic, athletic, artistic and martial. After attending a primary school from ages nine to fifteen, they are expected to attend one of four prestigious secondary schools:
- The Cloister of Wisdom, run by the monks and martial artists of the Immaculate Order;
- The Heptagram, an academy that teaches the occult arts of sorcery and spirit lore;
- The House of Bells, which trains its students to be officers in the Imperial Legions;
- The Spiral Academy, where young men and women prepare to become bureaucrats in the countless bureaus of the Thousand Scales, the least prestigious but often most lucrative of professions.
Other available careers include the feared roving judges known as magistrates, the Anathema-slayers of the Wyld Hunt, the lurking spies of the All-Seeing Eye and the bombastic senators of the Deliberative.
The Dragon-Blooded can channel their Essence into magical effects called Charms. Like most types of Exalted, Terrestrial Exalted channel their charms for their abilities. While their Charms are less powerful than those of the Celestial Exalted, the Terrestrial Exalted charms have a more efficient essence cost, and have defensive Charms that can effect large groups of allies, making them suited to lead large armies. They also have the advantage of being able to use Reflexive Charms the same combat round they use another Charm without developing a combo. This allows them to use an offensive and defensive action in the same round without using a combo. Terrestrial Exalted can also learn the Terrestrial Circle of Sorcery.
