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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Campbell" data-source="post: 6131581" data-attributes="member: 16586">I'm really enjoying Onyx Path's willingness to take a critical look at both setting and mechanics. Some fans will disagree with me, but I'm ecstatic that they have shown a willingness to shake up the power levels of the splats and redesign the game's combat paradigm. I'm an unabashed Solar fan, but in order for their narrative to have meaning they need meaningful and competent opposition, rivals, and allies.Here's an example of fiction for you all:[sblock=Update 8]Chapter Fiction Note: This is a working draft and subject to change before publication.Exalted Third Edition will feature a number of pieces of short fiction, the better to illustrate various elements of its setting and the heroes that inhabit it. Previewed below is a fiction excerpt of the sort that will appear at the front of each chapter of the book.Seven Devil Clever had come across a whole world to see this vista, and it pleased her greatly to have made the trip. She had twined herself around the upper branches of a vast and mighty oak, growing on a hillside far above the city of Faxai.The city was clearly defined below her, a brightly lit figure inside its formal walls. Outside the walls there were the occasional light crystals and flaring torches of outriders, but otherwise, darkness. She exulted at the sight, knowing the vast expenditures of resources that must be required for the Realm to keep that little chunk of light burning so terribly far from home, with no ability to raise its own food or supply its own merchandise. When Faxai fell, the Caul would belong utterly to the Lunar Exalted. She dropped down into the darkness where the others waited. There was another Lunar, an older Full Moon who had brought her here, no doubt at great risk. She had wanted to urge him to stay behind—it was not as if two of them could overmatch a Wyld Hunt together, any more than she could alone. But if there were words that could demonstrate to a Lunar warrior without insult that he should abstain from a fight he clearly desired to court, Seven Devil Clever’s tongue was not preternaturally swift enough to utter them. He was here of his own accord; the law of the Lunar tribe was that he could have let her scamper to her death unaided. She was no sworn kin of his, this was not a mission requested by the Silver Pact. Yet here he was, with his personal guard as well. Seven Devil Clever thought he might want to bang her like a fine drum, but she didn’t want to raise her tail to such a gruesome old buck, and had made that clear long before the journey started. They walked for a while, Seven Devil Clever a grey ghost amidst the rangy, leaping gait of the ape-men that accompanied her. When they were well past the crest and downslope, he signaled for her to stop. Did he think the occupiers in their city could hear them whispering all the way out here, leagues away in the forest? A fact worth noting. “Did you like what you saw?” “Fantastic, Mangler. They’re bottled up tight in there. Do they get out at all?” “Oh yes. The night makes it look especially dramatic, that’s why I chose to show you this vista during the hours of darkness, but don’t be fooled. They’ve been fighting us for years and they’re not dead yet. They have excellent light discipline and they are very aggressive about controlling the space outside their walls. They can’t use it, but you had better think twice before you try to. There’s a reason we’re looking at it from so far away. Their operations can range out even as far as this, but not much farther. Wyld Hunts will ride much farther, of course.” Seven Devil Clever nodded. “This is an awesome fight you’re in.” She meant it sincerely. She was watching the snake of the Realm held down by its head and strangled, and deftly at that. “Thank you, I take great pride in it. I helped do that.” Ah ha. Now she knew why he was showing it to her. Bragging rights. “How long until they’re gone?” “No more than five years, we think.” “Mouse in your pocket?” “You could say I speak for the council of senior Full Moons, among whom I am the least. I am told our plans have the favor of His Divine Lunar Presence.” Everything gained so much clarity. “It’s true, then? The black lion is active again?” Neither of them quite dared to breathe the name Sha’a Oka into the night. A smile revealed ivory fangs. “We want you to see what we can accomplish, Seven Devil Clever. We want you to think about what you could accomplish if you ran with us. This is the time for the strong to assert themselves.”[/sblock]Even after settling down to a more relaxed pace, Exalted 3e is still way ahead of where Numenera was at this point ($18k/day vs. $9/k). Of course I don't know that there will be nearly as much of a tail spike. This Kickstarter was well advertised and with the Exalted team's schedule being pretty much full they really cannot afford to add content as a stretch goal.</blockquote>

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