This Modern Exalted World

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The Modern World of Shards of the Exalted Dream tries to present a world like our own; I see that Modern Exalted setting as a poor rehash of the World of Darkness, and because of that, a bad thing. I was never a fan of the doomy doomy doom doom doom vibe of the WoD, with each new book belaboring how hopeless things were.

My modern Creation is different, or at least I believe it to be; its a dangerous and wondrous place, but is not a doomed world, unless the player characters take upon themselves to doom it. But, it is a world that could be more, better, and it falls upon the player characters to shape what they see as a better future.

Welcome to the Second Age of Creation. Welcome to the Modern Age.

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The Tale of Ages Past

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The Modern Creation started in a similar way as the original canon: from the depths of the Wyld, emerged the Primodials, vast beings made of conscience, self-awareness and, each in their own way, order. They shaped the world for themselves, making it an oasis of stability where they could experiment with the ways and shapes of existence instead of fighting the endless changes of the Pure Chaos beyond.

Once the Primordials had put the world in order, they retired to the Celestial City of Yu-Shan, leaving the Gods to run the day to day chores of keeping their creations as they had set them. Under the Gods, the Dragon Kings ruled the tribes of primitive humans, who existed only to offer terrified worship towards the Primordial titans.

After untold centuries, the Gods tired of their endless labor, and started to covet the luxury of the Celestial City, and all the pleasures and comfort that their Primordial masters had. With the help of Gaia and Autochton, they Exalted mortals into a vast army that stormed the gates of Yu-Shan and overthrew the true lords of Creation. Some primordials were slain and their deaths created the Underworld, connecting Creation to the Mouth of The Void; the Primordials who surrendered were 'lobotomized', their fetich-souls slain so they would be remade into lesser, different beings, then imprisoned in an alternate dimension crafted from the body of their own king, Malfeas. The Exalted were given rule of Creation, while the greater gods moved into Yu-Shan.

But, in this version of history, there was no Great Curse, there was simply the fact that, Exalted or not, the Heroes were still basically human, with human frailties. The years passed and their mortal family, friends, lovers, passed too. Even the long-lived Terrestrial Exalted grew old and died.

At first, the Celestial Exalted adapted to the concept of being immortal; then, they discovered it was not the case, when Kal Bax, the illustrious architect, manse builder, expired of old age without warning.

Fear of death started the fall of the Exalted; some took their own lives, bitter and despondent, some others obsessed with discovering the secrets of true immortality. Secretively at first, they developed new arts of Essence manipulation. The second step to damnation happened when the first Solar contacted the Yozis to try to obtain the secrets of eternity from them, while another descended into the underworld to wrest the mysteries of death from the Neverborn.

By excess and debauchery, by servitude to the banished or dead primordials, the old Solars fell, not all and not all at once, but it happened; the Abyssals and Infernals hid their corrupted nature from the other Exalted as best as they could, but they could not hide their degenerated behaviors.

There was no actual Usurpation; once about 250 solars were turned to the service of the Yozis and the Neverborn, the forces of the Underworld and Malfeas assaulted Creation and not even the Sidereals saw it coming. There was little time to rally the dragon-blooded host to defense, and the Lunars were not used to working in concert with the Terrestrials.

The war was brutal, and Creation was almost lost; but a brave sworn brotherhood dared enter a fortified command center of the Solar Deliberative seeking a way to stop the Betrayers. That way was found, and the lone survivor of the expedition used the Sword of Creation to ravage the hordes of enemies that threatened to consume the world in shadows and flame.

That mighty deed turned the tide of battle; with their armies destroyed, the Betrayers were hunted down and slain, one by one, and their tainted Essences were locked away. Creation was wounded, battered, but survived and recovered.

It's now 1768 Realm Year, and the world seems to be striding confidently into an ever-brighter future, but shadows gather in the horizon.

The Big Picture

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Creation lives in the Digital Age.

Essence principles and rules are widely understood and acknowledged as normal. The common folk uses magical wonders without worrying about the underlying principles, much like people of Earth operate technology without needing electronic engineering degrees.

Motics, the science of Essence, is taught in universities; alchemy, astrology, geomancy, enchantment, weather control, are all serious disciplines that helped shape the comforts of the modern age. Priests and monks and mediums practice summoning, warding and exorcism to keep spirts of all kinds under control.

One step above, the Exalted create advanced magitech; analogues of mobile phones, computers, cable TV and the Internet all exist. Personal vehicles are less common, but more developed nations invested heavily in public transportation with repulsorcraft trams and buses shuttling people around the largest cities.

The Exalted

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Since the Great Betrayal, no solars have been reincarnated in Creation; the four dozen or so untainted Essences lay dormant in the offices of Lytrek, the god of Celestial Exaltation, and the Unconquered Sun ignored all questioning to why.

Since that time, the Sidereals took steps to prevent a similar disaster from happening: the Dragon-Blooded are largely in control of Creation while the Chosen of the Maidens manipulate events behind the scenes to keep the general stability of the world.

The Lunar Exalted continue to take Warderships over matters the Silver Lady reveals to them. Older Lunars are loosely associated in a treaty of sorts called The Silver Pact; the Pact is little more than an agreement of non-aggression between territorial elders with some room for cooperation in dire matters. The younger Lunars gather in packs to pursue varied interests together.

The Sidereals are also divided on the Lunar matter, with a slight majority seeing them as dangerously chaotic, and wary of their links to the lost Solars, while other Chosen of the Maidens see the Children of Luna as much needed elements of constant change.

The Gods

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The Betrayal was a hard blow to the Celestial and Terrestrial bureaucracies, one they have not recovered from yet; many gods were close allies of corrupted Solars or their slaves, controlled by powerful mind-altering magic or intimidated into submission. It took centuries to root out most of them, and some were never found out.

Heaven and the Elemental Courts follow a confusing but mostly-effective system of protocol to keep the flow of seasons and the cycle of day and night and the whole mechanisms of existence. There is room for corruption, bribery and influence trafficking, but it does not get too bad, most of the time.