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with that out of the way, on with the review...
the book itself is very well made, the binding has held up fantastically over the last 2 years, and the page quality is somewhat higher than in the standard WOD fair, and the cover seems higher quality too. I love the artwork, there are over 100 pieces, some of them oil, some colored pencil, pen, watercolor, etc. all the pieces fit together well, and it has an anime theme to it, but still retains realistic proportions. the book is completely done in black and white, with exception to the front and back cover pages. The margins average 1" on the sides, and 0.5" on the top and bottom, and througout the book there are popin windows illustrating diverse subjects ranging from weather patterns, and the calendar, to popular food choices, and city specific taboos. while some people complain about this habit, which Whitewolf, among others such as AEG, and Wizards of the Coast also participate in. I for one do not mind it so. yes, this 350 page book could probably have fit on 250 pages had they removed quite alot of the artwork, dropped the margins to 0.25" all around, and gotten rid of the popin formatting, but if it did so the price would not change as has been demonstrated by other books that have done just that, but retained a high price. the margin decorations, and artwork placement lends well to the overall atmosphere of the book. There are quite a few grammatical errors, as well as mispellings, and at least 2 examples of misindexing, but the errors are hardly annoyances. the book does give the feel that it was rushed at the last minute, which is quite a shame.
The setting is interesting.
before time there was only chaos, called The Wyld. from the formlessness of the Wyld came the Primordials, among these were the Yohzi, and the Malfaens. after some time, came the humans. the humans were enslaved by the Malfaens, and their brothers the Yohzi. then, after a long while, the Young Gods, the Unconquored Sun, his sister Luna, and his cousins the Five Maidens Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn chose to free humanity from its bondage, and destroy the corrupt Falfaens and Yohzi. they spoke with the rest of those in creation, seeking allies, and in their seeking they found the Five elemental Dragons, Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Wood. also they found Gaia, and although Gaia, sister of the Malfaens, and Yohzi could not bring herself to war on her brothers, had fallen in love with beautiful Luna, and so, promised to not war on the young gods either, instead, she chose no side. Each of these allies then chose those among humanity who best represented their ideals.
The Unconquered Sun chose those which he wished exalted first among the Gods. The Sun choses his Exalted based on the 5 attributes of his personality. at Dawn the sun burns away the darkness, and turns the sky red with blooed, and so too those of his chosen that bore the mark of the Dawning would forever lead the charge, and be the warriors of his kind. as The sun reaches its Zenith, it banishes all shadow, and lets its might be seen by all. thus those that bore the mark of the suns Zenith would forever be the most shining examples of the Suns ideals, his priests. at twilight, the sun sinks below the horizon, and only in its fading rays can his followers find defense from the darkness, and so the twilight teach all that the sun wants known to those that gather by her light, scholars, and wizards among his exalted. as the sun fades from view, and darkness takes hold once again, those of darkness might try to take advantage of his followers, and so those that bare the mark of night are unique among the suns exalted, they are defenders of his values when all other defenses are gone, removing threats with the same stealth, and tricks that those of the dark would use against the chosen of the sun. finally, when the sun is eclipsed by the moon, you can see the true beauty inherent in the heavens. the corona of the sun burns forth, and the beauty of the moon is present. so too, the 5 maidens become visible in the sky. those that bare the mark of the eclipse represent the perfect harmony of the heavens. going among the suns allies, and even enemies, and sewing peace, defended by an age old pact so that they may not be harmed by any of the allies of the sun, when speaking on his behalf. the player characters are all Solar Exalted, and because of the history of the world, they are rare indeed, and are hunted by society as a whole.
Luna, then chose her exalted, who would accompany the chosen of the sun through life, and defend her brother in the darkness. she also chose 5 distinct types of people, but in the modern era, only 3 remain, The Full Moon, No Moon, and Changing Moons(what is left of the Waxing, Waning, and Crescent Moon exalted). in the modern era, the Lunar exalted inhabit the periphery of creation, and have been corrupted by the passage of time in the wyld lands. they too are hunted by society, but benefit from the fact that, unlike most solars, they dont live in it, and are far enough away from it that they can defend themselves.
The Sisters then chose their exalted. each chose only one type of person to respresent them. and all are associated with divination. the sidereal exalted are 'non existant' as society at large doesnt even know they exist. there are two factions, the first, the Bronze faction hide behind the ruling faction of the Realm, the largest empire in the world, and manipulate it. the Gold faction feel that they made a mistake in the great war, by choosing the wrong side, and are attempting to rectify it by finding, and 'saving' those solars they can, and they fight a secret war against the Bronze faction.
the elemental dragons were the last to choose, each dragon chose those which were most favorable toward their element and then exalted them. the terrestrial exalted each bare clear signs of their exaltation, the Terrestrial exalted are the leaders of the world. they are the rulers of the noble houses of the Realm, and are the most powerful creatures in existance, as far as the commoners know. they hunt the other exalted as anathema(one that is cursed, excommunicated or damned. poison)
The Young gods waged a war against the Yohzi and the Malfaens, as the war progressed, the yohzi hid themselves away and defended themselves in a universe all their own, while the Malfaens brought fourth their own children to defend them. in the end, the malfaens were imprisoned within their realms, and fell into a deep slumber. however, before their fall the Malfaens cursed the children of the celestials to be as apt to betrayal as their own fathers and mothers were. time has lost the facts of who exactly was cursed, but in the modern time, most believe it was only the solars who this curse effected. the Gold faction of the Sidereals, however, feel differently now.
The Exalted then created a great empire, in which the Solars ruled, while the Lunars became their lovers, and the liuetenants of their armies, and the sidereal became their viziers, and advisers, and the dragon blooded their warriors. humanity was freed, and became a part of the empire. for many years, the empire existed in piece. However, all things come to an end. The sidereal saw that the empire would become corrupt, and would fall, tracing out the lines of fate, they saw that only one choice could avoid the total destruction of the world because of this corruption, and that was to rise up against the solars, and overthrow them. so, the sidereals convinced the dragonblooded of the rightness of their cause, and, as allies, the sidereal, and the dragon blooded waged a great war against the solars, and their allies, the lunars. as the solars fell, many lunars fell with them, but the sidereals did not want to kill the lunars, as their prophecies did not say the Lunars had to fall. so many were spared where possible. those lunars that yet remained retreated to the fringes of creation and began a long guerilla war against their enemies, the pain of the deaths of their loved solars fresh in their minds. after the destruction of the solars, the sidereals set up a new government, seeing that one day the dragonblooded would FAR outnumber them, and that they didnt have the power to defend themselves even to the extent that the Solars had, they hid themselves away over countless millenia. afterall, while the sidereal, lunar, and solar exalted are immortal the dragon blooded live only for 3 centuries or so, thus social engineering was accomplished. in the time of the Malfaens, and later, in the time of the great empire (now called 'the first age') after the fall of the solars, as the dragon blooded were trying to build their empire, a great sickness known as 'the great contagion' befell man. the contagion made no differentiation between man and exalt, and 9 in 10 men died. then, as the contagion killed the last of its victims, the forces of the wyld, who had serged against creation for countless millenia, finally overran the defenses which had been placed in the first time, and overran creation. at the last moment, when all seemed lost, a woman known as The Empress stepped onto the thrown at the center of creation, which, it was thought, could only be used by a solar, and activated it. suddenly, the weapons the solars had created to defend against the wyld activated, and once again, the forces of the wyld were thrown from creation, and so began the realm, the new empire. for 1000 years the empress has sat on the throne, far longer than her life should have gone on. and in that time she has built a great empire. the empire follows a new religion, one that says the contagion, and the creatures of the wyld worked hand in hand with the Solar, and Lunar exalted to subvert, and try to destroy their betters, the Terrestrial exalted. the worship of the Unconquored sun, Luna, or the planets is forbidden, and the other exalted are anathema. the common man does not know of the existence of the sidereal, and for that matter, most dragon blooded dont. but from the darkness, the Bronze faction of the sidereals send their divinations to the wyld hunt, and the wyld hunt finds, and destroys newly exalted solars, and lunars. the Lunar exalted, following the predictions of the No Moon find those newly exalted of their own that they can, and rescue them, taking them back to the periphery of creation. the abbysals, followers of the dark lords, stir in silence. and 2 years ago, in a shocking turn of events, the Empress, leader of the Realms, and rightful ruler of all creation disappeared from her throne. no heir was named, so the noble houses of the realms fight among themselves to see who will take the throne, weakening the realm with their petty wars. the armies of the realm, once defenders, and attackers at her borders, are now called back home for scuffles, and defense, or disbanded and weakened by political intrigue. and now, in this time of great tumult, the sun, who has remained silent for millenia has begun exalting anew. at the same time, the forces of the dark lords have begun a campaign. great things are in the air, and this is the time at which your character becomes exalted.
The atmosphere of the book fits perfectly with the genre, from the stylish 'language' printed along the margins, to the watermarkings that lay behind every page. the authors creativity flows throughout the work, and the world is detailed quite thoroughly from start to finish. the player section retains the classic biased viewpoint on history, and the workings of the world, having the prejudices of the leading powers in society flavoring the perceptions of the world quite alot, but also makes sure to give factual accounting of the major events. the antagonists of the world: the Lunar, Sidreal, Abbysal, and Terrestrial Exalted are all well described, and, although the actual rules for using them as player characters is not made available, the storyteller has enough rules to get by. this is done in much the same way that Vampire gives the storyteller rules for using Werewolves, and Mages in his campaigns. the rules suffice, but the later additions are definately suggested to make truly epic villains. the system used is a compilation of the Trinity, and WoD storyteller system, taking many of the conventions used in trinity, but also taking some of the rules from the World of Darkness games. the rule of 1 has been removed, instead 1s only count as critical failures if no successes were rolled, in addition 10s count as 2 successes. in addition to the standard rules, characters also have Charms, those amazing abilities which allow the exalted to shine above the chaff of humanity. for those of you who are not familiar with these rules, a brief description follows: the system uses a dice pool based on 9 attributes (3 physical, 3 social, 3 mental) each of which having a rank from 1 to 5, combined with a group of abilities, also having a rank of 1 to 5. characters roll a number of D10s equal to stat + relevent skill. All dice that roll 7 or above are considered successes. all dice that roll 10 as detailed above are counted as two successes, and, if the player rolls no successes but rolls any 1s then as previously stated they are assumed to fumble, the more 1s rolled, the worse the fumble, but even the weakest of fumbles can be devastating to a character. Difficulty of an action determines how many successes are needed. tying a knot might need 1 success, while successfully punching an enemy could require 3, and leaping from one tree to another (without charms, detailed later)might require 6. The amount by which a person succeeds, or fails determines the level of the success or failure. In addition to Abilities, and Attributes the characters have Advantages. there are two different types of advantage, these are Backgrounds, and Charms. Backgrounds work the same as they do in the rest of the WW games, allowing the character to purchase contacts, nice armor, a good weapon, money, etc. at character creation. there are some new backgrounds, and some of the old ones arent applicable in this setting (arsenal for instance). Charms, however, are the meat of the advantages section. what sets the exalted apart from the rest of humanity, besides the fact that they have met their God personally, is that they have the ability to manipulate essence, the very stuff of life. each type of exalted manipulates essense differently, and in different degrees. the dragon blooded (terrestrial exalted) cannot manipulate large amounts of essense, nor do they hold vast amounts within them, for this reason their charms (though not actually listed in this book) are far more streamlined, and give much more 'bang for the buck' than the solar charms. the sidreal, and lunar hold less personal essence, but can manipulate peripheral essence (the energy around them) just as well as the solar exalted can, and the abbysal exalted, although some of them contain as much personal power as many solar, prefer to gain their essence by draining the life from that which is around them, from the land, to those humans in the area. Solar exalted have quite alot of personal essence compared to the rest of the exalted, but the level at which they can manipulate the power that flows around them is unrequited. The system is well balanced, it handily gets rid of the problem found in the world of darkness where, statistically, a powerful character is more prone to mishap than a weak character is, and at the same time manages to encourage over the top heroic types of adventure.
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