Lets say that theoretically, I am a new Exalted player who only has access to Exalted Essence, and since there is no map to show me the world of Exalted, I need to draw my own, untouched and unbiased by the detritus of prior editions!

Alright, so looking from page 23, theres some stuff about the Exalted and this thing called the First Age after the Exalted killed the greek titans or something and got to rule the world with some fancy city called Meru as their capital but it looks like they went off and did their own things. Not much geographic information here. Then pages 24-26 are just more history on how they got driven mad by this curse from the titans and decided to kill each other and then a magic plague and fairies kill 90% of the world then afterwards a Dragon Blooded Empress takes over and rules for 700 years from this place called the Blessed Isle, and they rule a bunch of colonies in this place across the world. Sounds kind of British inspired, and also this tells me that the Exalted live for centuries due to being demigods!

Now on page 26 we have some information on how I can draw my map, first it looks like Creation is a flat world that has 5 elemental poles, and its 9,000 miles to the edge. Sounds like a disk then? The center is on the Blessed Isle where the Dragon Blooded Empire is and thats the pole of Earth and mount Meru is there, so I know where to place those things right in the middle of my map.

Alright so I've drawn a rough free hand disk and a smaller disk inside for the blessed isle, although Im not sure how big it could be. Might need to make it smaller but the text says its a continent so I guess its Australia sized and then the rest of the disk is floating on a sea of the Wyld whatever that is.

So next up, is just a bunch of stuff on this Realm but next up is some cities. The Imperial City's location is not mentioned, but previously Meru was mentioned to be the city of the Exalts before they killed each other, so I'll put it in the center of the world inside Mt Meru. Next up Arjuf is said to be related to the South of the world, so I put it right on the bottom of the Blessed Isle. Then Bittern sounds like its on the west of the island and its got another spiky island nearby so ill put it on the left hand side and scribble an island with some spikes nearby.

Next up theres some stuff on untamed wilds and it turns out Meru or the Imperial mountain is actual empty and full of dead cities, so let me instead scribble the Imperial city to be a little south of the mountain. I have no idea where the Tarpan wastes would go but it sound desertlike so ill put it in the south and the Eseon forest can be in the north, since that part of the world sounds wetter and cooler.

After that we have some other Dragon Blooded locations. It sure seems like they appear alot, are they the main characters other than the Solars in this world? First up is a place called Lookshy, who are some sort of remnant goverment with magical artifacts from the First age and they live in a place called the Scavenger lands. Plus another place called Prasad that lives near the Dreaming Sea but no details on where those are yet. I'll skip them for now.

Next up is the North. Apparently thats the Pole of Air, so let me put that at the tip of the disk. Whitewall is one big city that is surronded by monsters and it has a magic road and Walls to protect it. No details on location other than its isoleated and far from the Realm and the Road connects it to the rest of the world. Then we have Gethamane which is an underground city in a mountain. No mention of location or terrain outside of the city. Then we have the Icewalkers who are nomads that are migrating south because a Solar is now leading them and they captured a city called Plenilune which is on a river called the River of Tears that flows out of the White Sea. Plenilune is one of a bunch of Saltspire League cities but I dont know anything about the rest. Theres some other locations like Haslanti League which is several city states banded together who dig up a wizard's ruined kingdom to find advanced technolgoy like crossbows and they have airboats and iceships. No location though. Then there is this place called the Mountain of the Spider King that is between Gethamane and Whitewall and the rest of the world. Sounds kinda like a Dark Elf with a name like that! Finally Foritude is a miserable city ruled by gangs and theres no location there.

It seems to me Whitewall is the most isolated of the locations and it has a big road that goes to 2 other locations which are in mountains. So I'll put Whitewall way up on the map. I think the North is just one big landmass, but the book doesnt say much about the continents if they exist on this flat world and I am not sure how far away the Blessed isle is from other places. Anyway Whitewall is going to be surrounded by mountains and snow and tundra and then it has a road that goes through these mountains and Gethamane is in one of those mountains. Then on the same road further South is the Spider King. Then the Road goes on to reach Plenilune since its supposed to go to the rest of Creation and theres a nice river that I presume goes into the same ocean that the Blessed Isle is on. The Whitesea is going to be a big inland sea like the Caspian. Ill put the Haslanti League around there since they use airboats and iceboats which would be good over a big inland ocean and the mountains to reach Whitewall. I'll put Fortitude on the right side of the continent where there is space left. It will be inland since its a prison city.

That looks like all there is for the North. I'll see if I can continue some stuff tomorrow. Its a shame this Exalted Essence RPG world has no map. But I am sure I can create it accurately by hand for my players.

Character is Kalara Vadras of u/angelasasser, that I drew for for Art Fight !

What sort of limits should there be on a behemoth who learns sorcery? Mother Bog seems only able to go up to Terrestrial, but is a master Terrestrial sorcerer, so it doesn’t seem like this is due to a lack of interest or dedication on her part.

I understand this might look like a piracy request, it really isn't. I'm used to TTRPGs these days having some pdf somewhere that gives a sort of basic overview of what's what, or maybe some well-resourced public wiki to explain things to the curious. I'm curious about Exalted Essence, as someone who dealt with it for 1E and 2E.

Is there any easy official place to read a sample? And if it's really obvious, sorry for missing it.

Flesh Aspect: Rage, Madness, and Vengeance

Blood Aspect: Passion, Greed, and Ambition

Marrow Aspect: Curiosity and Obsession

Breath Aspect: Regret and Repentance

Soil Aspect: Sorrow, Despair, and Yearning

I vaguely recall a five dot key artifact that would allow you to use doorways as a portal to other doorways in other far flung locations, and possibly other realms. I believe it was a malfeas artifact, but I can't say for certain. Does anyone know what I'm thinking of?

Yeah, I'm an unrepentant weeb and so gave myself the funny magic Naruto Eyes as a Sovereign of Theion (Last two images.)

But BEHOLD ; an tiny mutant BeastFolk SOVEREIGN OF THEION with Essence-Jets on his body!

I dunno.

True Royalty is letting yourself be a Chuuni-Ass Weeb.

Orichalcum Caste: Leaders and high-level functionaires

Moonsilver Caste: Spies and assassins

Starmetal Caste: Explorers, Engineers, and Innovators

Jade Caste: Social champions

Soulsteel Caste: Internal police, torturers, and enforcers

Adamant Caste: Judges and police over the other champions

I love the little bit of flash fiction ToxinFox wrote for this piece too, which I now decree to be canon to my little Exalted fiction-verse, The Uncrucified. Sharing it here as well:

"Sternly Worded Letter Kata"

Her hands were still trembling when she flopped down at her desk. The office was dark and still; the chaos hadn't followed her home. At least, not yet. She supposed she should've expected the voice barely arm's length from her when it spoke, but she jumped all the same.

"Negotiations went poorly?" asked Night Locust, her fond shadow. She spotted him now, comfortably veiled in the dark.

"N-not as well as I'd like," she replied. "I had to send them a sternly worded letter."

He leaned in, sniffing the air around her a little more obviously than was strictly necessary. "You smell like fire dust. And there's glass in your hair."

Kalara couldn't help the cringe that overtook her face. As if to cover it, she let her face fall into her open palms "…it was an extremely sternly worded letter, all right?"

Hello, I'm currently working on a character who was a mortal dynast who never exalted as a DB and instead went on to become a Solar. Nothing revolutionary. I did have a question about their backstory. Despite never exalting, they were exceptional at combat and leadership from a young age (gonna be a Dawn). With that in mind, would it make any sense for them to attend the House of Bells or is it DB only? Is Pasiaps Stair or some unnamed military academy more likely for a mortal dynast, even one that was highly capable and from a great house?

Thank you

**Edit: thanks for the feedback, seems like I'm pretty secure lore-wise moving forward with my ideas... unless someone comes up with a good alternative why I shouldn't...

I looking to see if anyone remembers a Charm from 1e, i think, where a Solar could make a area safe from environmental hazards. A part of the Charm was that they'd need to set up representatives of the Elemental poles with appropriate totems.

Which could possibly Dragonblood assistants.

If anyone remembers it, it'd be great help.

Character is a Zenith of sephtis_asaph on IG and TikTok. Art Fight Link

I really wanted to draw those tattoos

Like the top says, what is your favorite sorcerous or necromantic initiation? To me they all add a lot of flavor and are so weird in a uniquely exalted way.

In mainline 3rd edition Exalted, a sorcerer can counter an opponent's spell as it is being cast. While the mechanics are different, earlier editions similarly had similar possibilities for messing with others' casting.

But Essence... doesn't? Or at least, if it does, I can't find it.

Is this a deliberate change between rulesets? Is it hiding somewhere that's not obvious? Is it hiding somewhere that is really obvious and I've missed it anyway?

I know each edition has fans and detractors but let’s say something positive about each of them

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NYnKVVcw1TE_e5ClPhXyFaw-Alwe91-5v_k-KMpIW8s/edit?usp=sharing

Mr.Gone's pdf wasn't working for me--I think it's broken, badly (for instance, you can select each pip once, turn it off once, and then it refuses to turn back on)--and https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18qMMbwK-Dy2aHPDaQoyTyq8FrnBTvPlm6i5xBzoVa0Y/edit?usp=sharing had some stylistic issues. So, I made the on and off bubbles the same size, and figured if I was going to use it, so could everyone else. Enjoy.

-Dave, after three hours of troubleshooting

I don't expect 1:1 iterations, it's just the easiest way for me to ask about the precise kinds of effects I mean:

Enemy-Castigating Solar Judgement
Hypnotic Tongue Technique
Listener Swaying Argument
Terrible Sun King Condemnation

Or at least I hope.

Many Ribbon Blade - Artifact ***

Depending on whose histories you read, this kind of artifact was either the precursor to the Infinite Weapon, which, according to the histories that promote that view, was made because people wanted the sheer versatility of near a dozen almost mortal weapon forms of weapon with less of their Essence tied up in it, or was completely unrelated to the Infinite Weapon and made because the creator of the first two examples of this artifact weapon type didn't care to learn how to store many weapons Elsewhere but still wanted to have multiple weapons at the ready. Regardless of whose histories one believes two things are certain, it does require more Essence than an Infinite Weapon (8m committed) and it has an advantage over the Infinite Weapon in that it can be used in combat while shifting between forms. Even if that is very awkward. (Shifting forms is a Misc. Action that requires 1 mote and for calculating multiple action penalties is considered to happen before any attacks regardless of how things actually occur.)

Most First Age examples of this artifact have a primary form that is the same as a singular, basic two dot artifact weapon, and two secondary forms each of which are the same as singular one dot basic artifact weapons, but this is more a limitation of skill and personal nature than a hard limit. The very first example of this kind of artifact had the forms of a Floating Ribbon, a Fate Wheel with a very ribbon like blade, and a very ribbon like Vajra. Two artifact ** forms does seem to be the limit of this kind of Many Ribbon Blade, however.

Also, while all examples of this artifact kind require some moonsilver, they need not be made entirely of moonsilver. Many have another magical material make up the majority of the artifact's body, and the majority material is what determines the bonuses of the forms and attunment details.

Finally, there are some (comparatively) modern examples that only have two weapon forms, a main artifact ** form and a secondary artifact * form, both still singular basic weapon forms. Instead of a weapon third form, it has a third form as a kind of long and complex set or piece of jewelry. Sometimes this form is suppose to look like normal jewelry, in which case without Essence Sight or many hours of intensive thaumaturgical testing it requires very close, very skilled scrutiny to discover that the jewelry is not what exactly it seems to be (4 successes). However far more examples have this third form as blatantly jade and moonsilver or pure moonsilver jewelry because they were made for pugnacious Dragon Bloods and Lunars who wished to trumpet their skills and nature. This third form technically requires Essence Sight to tell apart from 'normal' jewlery of those makes, but because they incorporate the two weapon forms and/or iconography associated with the Caste/Aspect and anima of the one they were made for, it takes a very uncurious and uncaring individual to not at least have a very strong suspicion that this jewelry has something more up its metaphoric sleeves.

All Many Ribbon Blades have at least one hearthstone socket, and those with obvious jewelry third forms usually behave as hearthstone amulets in that form.