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Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded

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Exalted: The Dragon-Blooded

The Dragon-Blooded, also known as the Terrestrial Exalted, are easily the most numerous of the Exalt types; approximate 700 total of all the Celestial Exalted types exist--there are easily more than 10,000 of the Princes of the Earth, and there is no absolute force preventing them from growing more numerous.

Unlike the Celestial Exalted of whom set numbers exist, the Dragon-Blooded may breed among each other or the masses, with the children of such unions having a chance of Exalting at some point during puberty. The purer the blood is, the more likely a child will Exalt.

Also unlike the other Exalts, divided into Castes, the Dragon-Blooded are grouped into Aspects, each one attributed to certain personality and skill tendencies:

  • Air -- Logical thinkers and intellectuals.
  • Earth -- Bastions of stability and tradition.
  • Fire -- Passionate and flashy.
  • Water -- Determined and patient.
  • Wood -- Nurturing and sensual cultivators.

These numbers, and the ability to increase them, aided much in the Usurpation, when the majority of the Sidereal Exalted determined that the Solar Exalted were beyond repair, and fanned pre-existing flames of discontent among the Dragon-Blooded to the point that they rose up during Calibration and overwhelmed the Solar Exalted. The Sidereal Exalted felt that as the Dragon-Blooded lived shorter lives, and were weaker individually, their rule would be peaceful, if less wondrous than the First Age that the Usurpation put an end to.

The Dragon-Blooded Shogunate that formed in the ruins of the Usurpation lasted over 700 years, nearly as long as the Scarlet Dynasty has now, in Realm Year 768. However, the Shogunate crumbled with the arrival of the Great Contagion, and although the Scarlet Empress rose to power and asserted order on the Blessed Isle, she could not establish a firm grasp on the Threshold, especially the Scavenger Lands. Many of the city-states in the Threshold now act as Realm tributaries, with varying amounts of influence coming from the Imperial City

The Eleven Great Houses of the Empire claim descent from the Scarlet Empress, with the exception of House Nellens, and share her breeding. These houses field armies, manage commerce, support the Immaculate Order which preaches both the divinity of the Dragon-Blooded and the evil of the Anathema. They are also, by and large, quite decadent--marriages are a political alliance, and it is not uncommon for both partners in a Dynastic marriage to be having an affair. In fact, many Outcastes are born on the Isle (and the Threshold) because of dalliances between a Dynast and a peasant or Patrician, though often an elaborate ruse follows the pregnancy along to pretend that the child is born to a legitimate marriage, if the dynastic parent is part of such a thing. Thus such a child grows up with noble education and upbringing, and if he or she experiences her Second Breath, then she does so not as an Outcaste, but as a Dynast. Other Outcastes are born apparently spontaneously. These Lost Eggs are feted, and then given an option: serve in The Legions, or join the Immaculate Order. While those who chose the former may perhaps one day mingle their bloodline with the dynasty's, those who choose the latter take the vow of celibacy that all Immaculate Monks do.

While the Dragon-Blooded are most firmly associated with the Scarlet Dynasty, many more exist that are not born into a noble house, or even the Blessed Isle where the Realm makes its home. Lookshy, to the east, is a fortress-city that stands between the Realm and the Scavenger Lands. Further east, the Forest Witches exist in a half-dream world in which they are invincible gods. Throughout Creation, in fact, people occasionally spontaneously Exalt in their teenage years, though this is rare. Such Outcastes are usually better at whatever they turn their hand to than the mortal equivalent, and are thus easily capable of making a name for themselves, and often do.

With the disappearance of the Scarlet Empress, the Realm is thrown into upheaval as the Great Houses try to jockey for position to make a grab at the throne--and claim enough deniability so that if the Empress were to return, they would not suffer the fate of House Iselsi or House Manosque. Currently, Regent Tepet Fokuf supposedly has the power of the throne. He lacks ambition, political experience, or competence in any arena, along with any blessing of the Dragons, making him an excellent pawn: none will weep for him, even his own house, if and when he dies to some power-play.

Play notes:

  • While the Dragon-Blooded are more numerous, their charms are individually weaker--but commonly have a feature most other Exalts lack, in boosting the abilities of their comrades. Also, as a result of the backing of the Scarlet Dynasty, they are often much better equipped--their Artifact Background grants much more to them than an equivalent Solar.
  • The Dragon-Blooded are weaker in both sorcery and martial arts than their Celestial bretheren. While they may (and in the Immaculate Order, usually do) discipline themselves to the point of learning Celestial Martial Arts, they still must spend significantly more experience per charm. Without the aid of very rare, unique artifacts, it is unheard of for any Terrestrial Exalt to practice any Celestial Circle Sorcery at all.
  • In the war against the Primordials, the Dragon-Blooded's raw numbers made them footsoldiers, and this design for combat shows in their skill grouping: Unlike the Celestial Exalted, each Aspect has exactly one combat skill; no more, no less.
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