The Solar Exalted
Forged from the power of the greatest of gods, the Solar Exalted are the spiritual mimesis of the sun and all it represents: glory, magnanimity, power, relentlessness, inspiration, creativity and ascension. As the sun dominates heaven, so too do the Solars shine brighter than their peers. They are natural-born leaders, scholars, warriors, and builders, brought forth from the greatest heroes of man kind and set on high as the Unconquered Sun's own champions. The Solar Exalted are the greatest of all the Chosen. Be they benevolent or tyrannical in their courses, the Solars' natural mastery of the world and their ability to uphold the loftiest principles has earned them the sobriquet of the Lawgivers.
The Solar Castes
The Unconquered Sun selected his champions to reflect all aspects of his majesty, and to express the totality of human excellence. As such, each Solar belongs to one of five Castes:
- The Dawn Caste: These Solars are the mightiest warriors and most fearsome strategists to have ever walked Creation.
- The Zenith Caste: Holy men, priests, leaders of men, founders of religions, and uplifters of nations, these Solars seek to make the world a righteous place, as best they know how.
- The Twilight Caste: Craftsmen, wise men, and binders of occult forces, these Solars are the most erudite savants and mightiest sorcerers to have ever lived.
- The Night Caste: These Solars walk unseen among the wicked, bending the tools of darkness to the service of Creation asassassins, spies, and thieves.
- The Eclipse Caste: Forgers of accords between the powers of the world, these Lawgivers are far-ranging diplomats, socialites, merchants, and adventurers.
Masters of the Martial Arts
All styles of combat with weaponry or fists become suffused with miraculous power when practiced by the Solar Exalted. With effort and proper tutelage, Solars are even capable of ascending into the ranks of Heaven and learning the greatest and most esoteric expressions of martial systems—Sidereal Martial Arts.
Masters of Sorcery
Solars are possessed of the greatest will to power ever known. The First Age was built on the back of their unmatched sorcerous prowess.
Masters of Evocations
Master artisans and warriors alike, the Solar's journey is one of spiritual expression through physical means. In touch with an Essence greater than all others, the Solar may evoke the greatest of powers sleeping within their immortal panoplies.
Masters of Creation and Beyond
The greatest age of prosperity and grandeur the world has ever known was brought forth by the vision and leadership of the Lawgivers. Their passion drives the rise of nations, and their acumen brings forth wealth and reforms. The Solar Exalted can even forge new lands to conquer, raising them from the chaos beyond the world.
Play One of the Solar Exalted If You Want…
- to be a reborn hero of legend, forging a new destiny.
- to be a master of martial arts, sorcery, or Evocations.
- to be a forger of nations, armies, religions, wonders, or even worlds.
- to face enemies on all sides, and struggle against an ancient curse.
- to be mightiest among the Chosen.
The Great Curse and Limit Break
Storytelling the Great Curse
The purpose of the Great Curse is to add drama and conflict to the player characters' lives in a way that emulates the genres of epic poetry and sword and sorcery which Exalted draws inspiration from. Limit Break is the Solar Exalted's equivalent to Achilles sulking in his tent when he is needed on the battlefield, Hercules slaying his family in a rage, or Elric of Melniboné being forced to kill by his cursed sword Stormbringer. As the Storyteller, you control much of this added conflict by choosing the manifestation of Limit Break, as well as determining when they begin and end. Keep in mind the point of Limit Break is never to punish players for taking Limit-gaining actions, nor to sour players' desire to play the characters they've made. Ultimately, the Great Curse should help serve to make your chronicle a story of flawed heroes and savage adventure. If the rules ever seem to be at odds with that, err on the side of making a more enjoyable story.
When one of the player characters reaches 10 Limit, try to either choose a Limit Break that will immediately produce dramatic results, or delay the onset of Limit Break until it will. Going into Berserk Anger in the middle of a crowded metropolis will obviously carry drastic consequences, but if the characters are wandering through desolate wasteland, it won't be so interesting. It's also important to consider what impact a Limit Break will have on a player's investment in his character—forcing Chains of Honor on a silver-tongued scoundrel or Rampaging Avarice on a Solar who's made a point of self-denial for the good of his circle has the potential for interesting character development, but also risks negating the player's whole reason for creating that character in the first place. While the Great Curse can force a character into completely uncharacteristic acts, more often it tends to exaggerate personal quirks, flaws, or even virtues into dangerous exaggeration; a violent scoundrel is more likely to experience Berserk Anger than an even-tempered monk, while the monk is more likely to experience Chains of Honor than the scoundrel. When choosing a Virtue Flaw, don't try to invalidate what's cool about a character, but try instead to set them up for dramatic moments and character development. If you're uncertain of which Virtue Flaw to declare, ask the player.
When the Exalted slew the enemies of the gods, those ancient monsters pronounced a terrible death-curse against the traitorous Incarnae. The Unconquered Sun and his compatriots had anticipated this, however, and crafted mighty magic to protect themselves. What they failed to notice was that the death-curse of the fallen ancients, thwarted by the gods, took root in the hearts of their Chosen.That Great Curse still haunts the Solar Exalted to this day, leaving a seed of darkness in each hero Chosen by the Unconquered Sun. The Curse expresses itself in moments of great stress and hardship, inflating the Solar's passions into gross displays of unrestrained and destructive excess. The growing strength of the Great Curse is measured by a trait called Limit.
Limit
Limit is a measure of stress, self-doubt, and mental instability. As a Solar accrues Limit, the power of the Great Curse gains a stronger purchase on his soul. While this growing corruption may be invisible to others, the cursed Exalt finds his thoughts wandering in darker directions. When he reaches 10 Limit, the Curse spills over and can no longer be contained, erupting into Limit Break.
The Solar Exalted gain Limit in the following ways:
- Once per scene, when a character acts in a way that opposes one of his Major Intimacies, his player rolls a single die, gaining one point of Limit for each success (unless he's already rolled for acting against a Defining Intimacy; see below). Note that weakening an Intimacy always counts as opposing it, as does spending Willpower to resist an influence roll supported by that Intimacy.
- Once per scene, when a character acts against one of his Defining Intimacies, his player rolls two dice for Limit (or one die if he's already rolled for acting against a Major Intimacy). This otherwise functions as acting against a Major Intimacy, above.
- All Solars have a Limit Trigger selected at character creation, a special condition under which a character can gain Limit. When a character's Limit Trigger is met, his player rolls three dice for Limit, gaining one point per success.
Limit Triggers
Below are a number of potential Limit Triggers. This list is meant to be illustrative rather than exhaustive—players should feel free to design their own Limit Trigger (with the Storyteller's approval). A Limit Trigger should be a situation that the character finds stressful, traumatic, or frustrating.
- The Solar is insulted, belittled, or deliberately frustrated by another character.
- The Solar tells a lie, deliberately deceives someone, or breaks a sworn oath.
- The Solar sees innocents suffering, and is either unable or unwilling to help them.
- The Solar is hindered or defeated by the self-indulgent and intemperate behavior of those around him.
- The Solar's allies suffer a setback or defeat because of a mistake he made.
- The Solar is faced with the opportunity to advance his own cause by harming an innocent or ignoring one's suffering.
- The Solar's emotions lead him into a course of action that he regrets.
- The Solar is denied a favorite pleasure or vice, either by circumstance, another character, or his own decisions.
Limit Break and Virtue Flaws
Once a character has accumulated 10 Limit points, he will enter a state called Limit Break—the manifest expression of the Great Curse. Limit Break may or may not manifest immediately; the Great Curse is insidious, and tends to erupt into full bloom only when the Exalt's actions have the potential to create significant turmoil or suffering. An Exalt in the midst of an argument with his Circle is likely to experience the full effects of the Great Curse immediately, while one trekking through the vast desert of the South might continue to travel for several days before the effects of his Limit Break manifest. The timing of such manifestations are ultimately up to the Storyteller.
The precise manifestation the Great Curse takes is known as a Virtue Flaw. Several potential Virtue Flaws are described below, and the Storyteller may create new ones as suits the needs of his story. A Solar's Virtue Flaw isn't fixed—the Storyteller should choose whichever one is most suited to the character's current situation or seems like the most dramatic choice. All Virtue Flaws share the following features:
- Each Virtue Flaw forces the character to act out some kind of behavior that is harmful to those around him or to himself. The behavior enforced by Limit Break is treated as a Defining Principle, applying a +4 or -3 to the character's Resolve against relevant influence rolls and allowing the character to treat certain types of influence as unacceptable.
- In addition, if a character could treat an influence roll as unacceptable due to Limit Break, he must—he does not have the option of letting it be resolved as normal.
- Being in Limit Break is an intensely emotional experience, a powerful cathartic reaction to whatever stress has driven a character to it—it feels good, or at least necessary, even as it is traumatic. As a result, when a character ends his Limit Break he resets his Willpower points to equal his permanent Willpower, regardless of whether this causes him to gain or lose Willpower.
- Each Virtue Flaw specifies a duration of either session or scene. Those that have a session-long duration last for the remainder of the session of play. If the Limit Break occurs towards the end of the session, or there isn't an opportunity for it to have any impact on the game, the Storyteller may choose to have it spill over into the next session as well. Those that have a scene-long duration last for a single scene of play. In addition, each Limit Break has a condition which can end it prematurely if met.
- Once a Limit Break ends, the character loses all points of accumulated Limit.
All-Consuming Grief
The Solar is overwhelmed by regret or sorrow, and can do nothing but stop to mourn what he has lost or to brood upon the injustices that have befallen him. He'll try to go off to be alone to grieve, if possible; if not, then the Solar ignores his surroundings and focuses inward on his pain. He stirs from his grief for nothing, not even to help his allies.
Duration: Scene. All-Consuming Grief can be ended prematurely if the Solar is attacked or if someone to whom he has a Major or Defining Tie is incapacitated.
Berserk Anger
The Solar rampages out of control, attacking and killing anything he sees. His killing spree begins with his enemies, but then turns to any innocent or uninvolved bystanders of the fight. He may spare characters he has a positive Tie towards from his rampage, but this protection vanishes if they try to impede him in any way.
Duration: Scene. Berserk Anger can be ended prematurely if the Solar runs out of valid victims to kill, or if he incapacitates someone he has a positive Tie toward.
Chains of Honor
The Solar is overwhelmed with regret for his past misdeeds, and cleaves to an unbreakable code of honor. He will not tell any lies, including lies of omission or halftruths, nor will he break a promise or sworn oath he has made. If he has deceived anyone in the past, he will strive to find them, tell them the truth, and do whatever he can to atone. Likewise, he will seek out those whom he has broken oaths to, and take on whatever labors or tasks they assign to correct his failure.
Duration: Session. Chains of Honor can be ended prematurely if the Solar is forgiven by someone to whom he has broken an oath or harmed by means of deception.
Compassionate Martyrdom
Consumed by overwhelming compassion, the Solar cannot see the suffering of others without intervening. Whenever he sees a suffering innocent, he must intervene to help them in the most dramatic way possible. If she is being harmed, the Solar must either intercede to take the blows meant for her, or else kill her aggressor. If her suffering is caused by poverty, sickness, or other prevailing conditions of her life, the Solar must find some similarly dramatic method in which to help her, working without cease to do so.
Duration: Session. Compassionate Martyrdom can be ended prematurely if the Solar sees that the actions he has taken have caused the people she is trying to protect to fear or reject her, or if she loses a combat that she started because of the Limit Break.
Contempt of the Virtuous
The Solar becomes unfalteringly sure in his own moral righteousness, and strives to correct the failings of those around him. If he sees another person engaging in immoderacy, indulgence, or dishonesty, he will strive to correct them, lecturing them on their failings. If his instruction is mocked or rejected, he may even turn to force in preventing them from sin.
Duration: Session. Contempt of the Virtuous can be ended prematurely if the Solar is forced to question the righteousness of his own actions, either because he is confronted with the unintended consequences of something he does, or because he is persuaded by another character.
Crushing Doubt
The Solar is crippled by self-doubt. He will seek the assistance of his allies in every task, no matter how simple, and will pass his duties and responsibilities on to others whom he believes are more capable than him. If he is separated from allies, he must try to return to them or else find some other companions, and will flee from any potential danger or obligation he encounters along the way.
Duration: Session. Crushing Doubt can be ended prematurely if the Solar is forced to face a significant danger alone and succeeds, or if he single-handedly saves an ally from a significant danger.
Deliberate Cruelty
The Solar is consumed by cold cruelty, no longer recognizing others as worthy of respect or life. He will harm others without a second thought if he benefits from doing so, and has no aversion whatsoever to the use of torture, terror, and mutilation. His manner is cruel and scathing, even to friends and allies, mocking and verbally tormenting them as a matter of course.
Duration: Session. Deliberate Cruelty can be ended prematurely if the Solar's actions cause harm to someone he has a Major or Defining positive Tie towards.
Heart of Flint
The Solar's heart is hardened against all emotion, becoming distant and utterly lacking in empathy or feeling. While in Limit Break, he is treated as having no Intimacies whatsoever, making his decisions based purely on what is most efficient. His lack of empathy imposes a -2 penalty on all social rolls.
Duration: Session. Heart of Flint can be ended prematurely if the Solar's apathy allows a character that he holds a Major or Defining positive Tie towards to come into life-threatening danger.
Rampaging Avarice
The Solar is filled with rampant greed, no longer willing to let anything come between him and what he wants. Whenever he is faced with the opportunity to indulge in a favorite pleasure or vice, he will do so. If someone would deny him a pleasure, he will take it by force, even if it would be trivial to obtain it otherwise. While he can restrain himself from committing acts of murder or rape, he will not hesitate to destroy property or physically harm others to get what he wants.
Duration: Session. Rampaging Avarice can be ended prematurely if the Solar harms an innocent in order to get what he wants—but only after he's done enjoying it.