Greetings, programs!
That seems kind of a fitting opening, given that we're talking about magical robots here. Not that they're strictly programmed, but whatever. Today I'm posting an Alchemical Exalt in honor of the upcoming crowdfunding campaign on Backerkit, which is to begin today (November 14th) at 2PM Eastern, AFAIK.
So, first, off, if you don't know what Alchemicals are, they are a type of Exalt -- the Chosen of Autochthon, the Machine God (not the God-Machine, that's something different). If you don't know Exalted, try this setting primer to get you caught up. Autochthon himself is one of the Ancients, a primordial titan who helped build Creation and the gods and the humans and all that. When the gods rose up against their cruel creators, Autochthon was one of two that turned against his own kin and sided with the gods.
Arguably, Autochthon made the Divine Revolution possible -- the gods were prevented from acting directly against the Titans, but Autochthon showed them how to create human champions who could fight for them -- the process of Exaltation itself. After the Revolution, for a handful of reasons, Autochthon left Creation entirely after scooping up his followers and a bunch of random mortals to populate his world-body. There's a whole society inside him, called Autochthonia.
Autochthonia has its own Exalted, the Alchemicals -- but unlike the Exalted in (and adjacent to) Creation, these aren't mortals gifted with power but techno-magical constructs with the souls of heroic mortals and the same sort of divine power with which other Exalted are gifted. In the past, Alchemicals usually get printed up towards the end of an edition because they're sealed off in their own little world and aside from some adventure hooks involving Autochthonia re-establishing contact with Creation (the most well-known being the Locust Crusade), there's not a lot that can be done with them in the larger game.
Third Edition tweaks this, somewhat. It's established now that before leaving Creation, Autochthon built some prototypes that for one reason or another got left behind. There are one or two other possibilities of how they can wind up in Creation, and I can't recall if the details of how that could happen have been expounded upon so I won't get into that here. So for that reason, I'm planning on doing two Alchemical characters -- one in Creation, one in Autochthonia.
This is the Creation-side one first, and we're building them up with the Essence rules. So let's get to it!
Step 0: Session Zero
So as a reminder, I'm doing these without a group, so I'm going to work out a vague enough story for this character that I could potentially slot them into any group. So unlike past character builds, I'm not assuming any particular direction or location. I'd continue on, but that's bleeding into...
Step 1: Concept
My initial concept is to do a more knowledge and magic-oriented character -- not exactly a stretch for me, to be frank, but when I think of Alchemicals I tend to think more of physical characters than, say, sorcerers. And I don't build a lot of sorcerers, so I'm going to go that route with this one.
Alchemicals have six Castes, one for each of the magical materials (of which they're largely made): Orichalcum, Moonsilver, Starmetal, Soulsteel, Jade, and Adamant. You'll note that five of those, via the magical materials, conform to (and share conceptual similarities with) Exalt types in and around Creation -- and there was an adamant-aspected Exalt during the Divine Revolution, but what happened to them is covered in Exigents. And I like the idea of playing an Adamant Caste, so I'm gonna go with that.
In first edition, the Adamant Caste were kind of a hypothetical, an optional inclusion presented as an in-setting myth to allow for their 'default' absence. In second edition, they explicitly existed, but they served as a 'who watches the watchmen' secret police-type monitoring the other Alchemicals (because normally Soulsteel Caste are the cops and enforcers). So they weren't publicly known to exist and thus were arbitrarily difficult to work into mixed groups.
Third edition reimagines the Adamant Caste as teachers and muses, meant to inspire and keep up morale among other Exalts. So I've got an idea for an Adamant who was one of those prototypes discovered in an abandoned temple, awakened, and mistaken for some sort of construct meant to assist scholars or librarians and such, sort of like Janet from "The Good Place." But over time they've become more their own person and become part of the community they serve (Alchemicals being naturally 'wired' for community service), and maybe over the course of the last few years they've become something like a Head Librarian or some other intellectual authority.
So now I take a moment to note the three Advantages of the Alchemical Exalted: First off, they're Living Artifacts, and can handle an artifact and study it and copy one of its Evocations as if it were one of their Charms. They can only have one at a time, and can undergo the Rite of Reconfiguration (I'll explain this later) to change it. And, as I mentioned before, they have Community Spirit. They form bonds with their communities, and this doesn't have to be a local area -- it can be a population, or some sort of group. I think there are guidelines for their Circle also counting for this at some point. Anyhow, this advantage gives us... huh, I'd forgotten about this... they get a custom effect based around their purpose, like getting a stat buff when they assist or defend a member of their community.
Okay, I'm gonna ponder this a bit to see if something better comes to me (and check something for a guideline), but my first thought is that my Alchemical can use Sagacity to substitute for certain social skills when leading or speaking on behalf of the community, as their knowledge and understanding is more important than literal social acumen. If I come up with something more appropriate or interesting, I may or may not come back and just edit it into this or put it in with 'Finishing touches.'
Anyhow, finally, Alchemicals have Resonance with the magical material they're made of -- so this character's going to be resonant with adamant, the rarest of the magical materials, kind of like an alchemically-perfect diamond.
And now, let's get into Adamant Caste advantages. Their passive anima ability, which they always have access to, is Muse: They can serve as a muse to any one non-Exalt. That person adds their Essence rating to dice to any roll to which their inspiration contributes. This immediately raises extras to non-trivial characters. Neat. Next, when they hit active anima, they get Be More Precise: When an attack targeting them misses, they may spend 1 anima to penalize the attacker's next roll. They can do the same in response to failed social actions as well. Interesting. Finally, there's their iconic power, Guiding Hand: They can spend 2 anima and for the rest of the scene, their allies within short range get a bonus to attack or social influence rolls as long as the user is physically present and conscious. This bonus doesn't count towards the dice cap either, which is especially nice.
Speaking of which, I'm imagining their anima banner ties into their physical appearance so I'll start with that for context.. Alchemicals are partially organic, composed of magical clay and other materials in addition to the magical materials they're made from. I'm not sure how much of their body is made from pure adamant, though I figure at the time they were made there was a good bit to work with, but regardless I imagine their body appearing to be made of a translucent blue glass, hard enough to see through that they're not quite a 'visible man' model, but in the right light you can probably make out bits of skeleton and internal mechanics.
Their body is covered with etchings filled with what's probably purer adamant, much more like a faint blue crystal but enough to shine in the light -- the etchings are effectively a diagram of internal Essence flows and chakras in a humanoid body. A well-studied savant may recognize broadly what it it is, though not the firm detail -- fundamentally, it's a diagram of how Essence flows through the bodies of Exalts. When their anima flares up into iconic, that diagram is going to expand outwards, and versions of those chakra diagrams are going to appear all around them, possibly in the form of movement diagrams and such. But you know the thing in animation where someone might have a version of the Vitruvian Man appear overlaid on them or in the background? Kinda like that.
I still need to name this character, too... there are certain typical Alchemical naming patterns, which don't necessarily apply here, but I'll try to come up with something that fits in close enough. Oh, I know. It may be a little on the nose, but I'm liking the idea of the name Clear Thought (they/them). Yeah, let's go with that. I might tweak it a bit if an idea comes to me, but we'll start there.
And I think that sorts us for step one. Now, assuming I still remember how to count...
Step 2: Attributes
And now we start getting into numbers. As a reminder, ExEss has three Attributes: Force, Finesse, and Fortitude. I have a 4, a 3, and a 2 to distribute.
My immediate notion is that Clear Thought is stalwart and steadfast more than anything else. They hang back and learn and survive to pass that on, after applying the lessons in new and different ways -- after all, they're not just a walking archive, but meant to study and learn. So I'm gonna go with Force 2, Finesse 3, and Fortitude 4.
Step 3: Abilities
So now we get into the stuff they've learned, which is the best segue I can think of to get into Abilities. I start with one at 5, one at 4, three at 3, two at 2, and then one 1.
So as not to dance around it -- the 5 is going into Sagacity, the "knowing stuff" Ability (which combines the Lore and Occult Abilities from the core system). I'm not sure exactly what Clear Thought is going to do with it, but I feel like I want to put the 4 in Integrity -- my instincts are telling me that one of their signature traits is that whole 'steadfast' thing, so they're good at resisting undue influence and keeping their learning safe. The 3's are going to go into Presence, Embassy, and Awareness, which are kinda the big social skill Abilities.
Let's put one 2 into Physique for the physical resilience and... hm. ExEss characters have a little more room to not be as combat-skill heavy as in the core system, but I'm thinking at least one mundane means of self-defense would be good. I'd go with Ranged Combat, but I have trouble imagining Clear Thought going for a nonmagical ranged attack, and Sorcery generally lets you swap in Sagacity for that anyways. So let's put the other 2 into Close Combat -- besides, as I mentioned, the Alchemical was designed to show Essence flows through the body, so perhaps they were programmed with some instincts for martial arts (not that I'm gonna go that route, but just saying). And that leaves the last 1, which is going to Craft, so they know how to build and fix things.
That gives us an Ability layout of Awareness 3, Close Combat 2, Craft 1, Embassy 3, Integrity 4, Physique 2, Presence 3, Sagacity 5.
Step 4: Charms
And now for the powers, the stuff that gets those Essence flow diagrams lighting up. As I have in the past, I'm gonna look at the suggested Charm archetypes as a starting point, and here we go. 'Peerless Sage.' I'll start there and tweak.
First, I pick either an Excellency or Ox Body Technique, and I'm definitely gonna start with the Sagacity Excellency. Next, because I want Clear Thought to be a sorcerer, they're going to have the Sorcerous Initiation, and I'll get more into that after I pick the other Charms. That gives me three Charms left. Glancing at the list, Archive Mind Mentality seems obvious. It's a Universal Charm that gives the character perfect memory and recall.
Next, after the Excellency and Universal Charms, I think I wanna glance at the Alchemical-specific Charms next just to make sure I'm not missing anything obvious there. Oh, snap. Outlier Analysis Method. It's a Fortitude Charm that boosts Clear Thought's stunt dice on Awareness, Embassy, or Sagacity rolls when solving a problem or applying logic. They also gain anima if they 'gift' these stunt dice to Circlemates or members of their community. There's another Charm, Verbatim Recall, that thematically goes hand-in-hand with Archive Mind Mentality (though they overlap enough it honestly feels like maybe it should have been a Mode), but I think Celestial Overseer Concordat would be more fun to play with -- it lets the user spend motes to become aware of the nature of other beings nearby -- mortals, spirits, Fair Folk, Exalts (and what types they are), and ask a couple of basic questions about them. I can see that having some fun roleplaying opportunities.
And now let's take a moment and address a couple of things. First, there's the fact of what Alchemical Charms look like, because they're all actual devices physically installed into the Exalt's body and can even be swapped out every now and again using the Rite of Reconfiguration. So I don't necessarily have to stop and establish this, but I feel like it's a cool thing to get into.
So first, Outlier Analysis Method and Archive Mind Mentality are both obviously going to be modules in the brain, so aren't likely to be casually visible. But as I type this, I imagine that the 'diagrams' etched into their body I described above might also potentially serve as seams to open up their body, so if you know what you're doing and they allow you to do so, you could probably open up their head kinda like a puzzle box and see the specific modules. Archive Mind Mentality is probably something like a hard drive with an orichalcum disk in a framework of starmetal, and Outlier Analysis Method is probably some sort attachment of moonsilver wires that wave back and forth like underwater kelp in a black jade frame that snaps on somewhere.
As adamant is often associated with keen senses and clarity, I imagine it's a major factor in Celestial Overseer Concordat's mechanism -- which is, not to put too fine a point on it, Clear Thought's eyes. Said eyes are probably orbs of a clearer alloy of adamant (so the 'whites' of their eyes probably look very faintly blue) with moonsilver irises that connect directly into their optic nerves. Presumably they have alternate eyes they could use if they wanted to swap out the Charm, or maybe they can swap out the irises like contact lenses.
Yes, I know I'm thinking too much about this. Presumably, this all also applies to their Excellencies, but that feels like something a little too ingrained for me to cook up something for that. That said, there is also the matter of their Sorcerous Initiation. Different Exalted engage in different forms of sorcerous initiation, whether it's a pact with an entity or a form of teaching -- for Alchemicals, it's usually a physical module, and ExEss provides this. The Machine-God Weaving Engine serves as their their initiation: a pair of adamant rings, one inside the other, embedded in their forehead, that grants access to reality-altering protocols. It also gives them a shaping ritual that gives them bonus Will when they're incorporating local spirits or similar entities into spellcasting.
I also pick a First Circle spell as part of the initiation Charm, and if I wanted I could have spent additional Charms for more spells, but let's start with just one. Pragmatically, I should probably go for one of the basic common combat/defense spells, like Death of Obsidian Butterflies (which would come with Flight of the Brilliant Raptor as a mode), and if I were playing Clear Thought in a game and it seemed like the group needed a combat caster, I'd make some adjustments. But by default, let's go with Silent Words of Dreams and Nightmares -- which sounds creepy as hell, because it kinda is. It lets you use a symbolic link to someone to go into their dreams, but I imagine that Clear Thought in their role as a teacher may have learned this as a way to communicate to someone on a deeper level, maybe even a student they couldn't physically reach. (It's also possible they learned a complicated lesson about boundaries from such an incident, but maybe that's something I'll flesh out later.)
But I think that covers us for Charms.
Step 5: Merits
The book offers three 'layouts' for Merits. I tend to default to the 'one of each tier' method, but let me see what we've got to work with and another might be more appropriate.
So looking at the list to see if anything might work as a Primary Merit, I spot Hearthstone and have a 'Hmmm' moment. After all, Clear Thought was found in a stasis tube in a ruin, I presume -- what if that ruin was some sort of sealed, abandoned lab or workshop, something meant to sustain the equipment used to build and presumably demonstrate the Alchemical's capabilities. Such a thing could easily be a potent manse, which means it comes with a greater hearthstone. The ExEss book itself has few hearthstone examples, but fortunately the two grades of hearthstone map onto the core system hearthstones pretty exactly, and all you have to do is adjust any mechanics. And there's an interesting one in Arms of the Chosen called the Stone of One Voice, which allows humans within four miles of the stone to speak and understand Old Realm even if they shouldn't know how. So that gives me a mental image of a manse meant to be a workshop that bridges Creation's and Yu-Shan's resources, maybe with a non-functional (or simply sealed) heavenly gate, and the stone served a function as part of a translation system or was even just used by whomever managed it. And now Clear Thought has inherited it, by being the last living resident.
So that brings us to secondary and tertiary Merits. For a secondary Merit, I've got an idea for an Ally. A Secondary Ally is a being on par with a young Exalt or a First Circle Demon, and I'm thinking that maybe having a lion-dog Ally would be interesting. Lion-dogs are spirits, six feet tall at the shoulder and made of living jade, and sometimes assigned to guard locations in Creation, sometimes for millennia. With permission from the Storyteller, this one might have a Charm allowing him to assume human form.
So maybe this is a lion-dog who was assigned to watch the workshop-manse at some point before it was forgotten or lost (especially if there was -- or is -- a heavenly gate there), and has remained in the area. Or perhaps he's been assigned to investigate an alarm that went off when Clear Thought awoke, either passing through the gate before sealing it for security's sake or traveling from elsewhere. Either way, I'm imagining that maybe he's meant to guard Clear Thought rather than the manse itself, or what have you, and has wound up as the Alchemical's chaperone.
I kinda like the idea that Clear Thought might actually have a responsibility to report to one of Autochthon's Divine Ministers (or, more likely, one of their servitors), who are obviously unavailable so now they're just making do. Or maybe they've forgotten -- despite being designed to have a perfect memory, perhaps some element of the stasis system or whatever awoke them in the first place messed up that directive, and they don't know who they're supposed to report to. But either way, the lion-dog -- hold on, gonna fire up the Old Realm Name Generator and name him -- either way, Kamu is accompanying Clear Thought for the moment until they get this sorted out, presumably having adventures along the way. And he's certainly not in any hurry to get where they're going; this is probably the most exciting assignment he's ever had and will ever had.
If a lion-dog Ally is a bit too 'out there' for a Storyteller's liking, I'd be fine swapping out the character for maybe one of Heaven's Dragons or a god-blood sent to investigate and taking up the same role. If it's the concept in general that's the issue, then I'll ask if I can have a local outcaste or god-blood Ally, or if there's a story-relevant NPC can 'adopt.'
For the tertiary Merit, I'll probably go with an Artifact, let's say a Cache Egg -- a magical container that can hold things in an extradimensional space. Maybe there's a macguffin in there already, waiting. Depending on how things shake-out for the Ally listed above, I might swap this out for a normal human assistant and pick another Artifact for the secondary Merit.
Step 6: Virtues and Intimacies
Now here's where I delve into what makes Clear Thought tick -- maybe literally, maybe metaphorically, depending on how their brain is put together. Either way, here's where I establish their values and beliefs.
So first I pick Major and Minor Virtues, and I think these are going to be easy. Clear Thought's priorities are acquiring and sharing knowledge. So let's go with Wonder as their Major Virtue, and Compassion as their Minor Virtue.
So now that leads us to Intimacies. I choose at least one Major and two Minor ones, and tie them to the Virtues.
So the Major Intimacy is going to be "Knowledge must be preserved by finding and sharing it," tied to Wonder. Clear Thought is a teacher, first and foremost, but one must learn things in order to teach them, and this is what primarily drives them. (This might be also used against them in social influence, if they learn something they think should be kept secret...)
The first Minor Intimacy is going to be Kamu (Friend), tied to Compassion. It's pretty simple; Kamu is their friend and companion, and perhaps unintended student of academic ramblings. Over time, this would probably be promoted to a Major Intimacy, but Clear Thought is still getting to know him and hasn't yet reached that 'throw myself in front of an arrow to save them' stage. (Obviously, if I have to rework the Ally in some way, this would be adjusted appropriately.)
The other Minor Intimacy is "For every problem, someone out there knows the solution," tied to Wonder. This is another general principle, sort of a 'not going to give up' kind of thing.
In addition, Clear Thought would have an Intimacy towards the community they grew up in, but I'm leaving that vague since I'm not doing a default setting for this character -- this is one that could be a distant rural community, or a neighborhood of Nexus or Great Forks. But they'd definitely have feelings about that, as Alchemicals are naturally community-oriented.
Also, in this section I go over the Great Curse as it applies to Alchemicals. Like other Exalts, Alchemicals potentially incite the Great Curse when they act against a Major Intimacy or their Major Virtue. In addition, Alchemicals may be set off when a community they have an Intimacy toward is threatened, ignores their advice, or openly disdains their help. When this happens, an Alchemical succumbs to Crisis Behavior. They're imbued with inhuman clarity that mutes their emotions and drives them to materially protect or alter their community of interest (or their companions as a proxy, if need be) in some way. There are different manifestations, and I choose one when the Curse is triggered, but broadly they might succumb to what some people call 'Asimov's Zeroth Law,' where robots in Asimov stories get around the usual rules laws governing their behavior by coming to a conclusion that doing so is actually supporting the Three Laws, and thus draft a law that supersedes them. (For instance, they might allow individual humans to come to harm, in order to protect humanity as a whole.)
Step 7: Finishing Touches
And now here's where we get to the blank spots left on the sheet.
Their Essence starts at 1. Plain and simple.
They also start with the usual seven health levels (two 0, two -1, two -2, and Incap), since I didn't take any levels of Ox Body Technique.
Now I do derived values. Their Parry is highest Attribute (which is 4) + Close Combat (2), divided by two and rounded up. So that's a Parry of 3. Their Evasion would be that Attribute + Athletics (0) divided and rounded so that'd be 2. But in general, unless something says otherwise, I go with the higher, which means Defense 3.
Next is Soak, which starts at 1 and increases if they have 3 or more levels of Physique... scrolling up... ah, nope. So their Soak is 1 plus any armor they're wearing, and that would be pretty situational (though if I rework things to go with a secondary Artifact, that might be some armor). So let's assume Soak 1. Their Hardness starts at 2 plus any applicable armor bonuses (again, situational), plus their Essence, for a total of Hardness 3.
Now I work out Resolve, which starts at 2 and goes up based on their Integrity. Because they have an Integrity above 3, they start with Resolve 4, modified by Intimacies and Virtues depending on the scenario.
Now I get into equipment, and I imagine they probably don't own a lot beyond clothes and a backpack, and their Cache Egg. I'm thinking they probably travel very much like a monk, with few possessions and such, but they've scraped together enough cash to get by (or maybe there's some money in the Cache Egg, or they're constantly leaning on their sidekick for funds).
I can't think of any further 'spark of life' stuff that I haven't covered or wouldn't be part of a game in which I ran them, so I think that brings us to the end of the write-up. Which means it's time for the Mr. Gone sheet...
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