Exalted Lite/Setting Changes

Overview

The Exalted Lite rules do make some changes, after a fashion, to the setting, though not in a way that should bother most people. Some of these setting changes are more drastic than others, but most can be ignored or tweaked, and others are merely suspected.

They can be summarized in the following:

Changes to the Exalted

• There are only 200 Solar and 200 Lunar Shards. This gets referred to rarely, but too many heroes gets irritating. Only a quarter of the Solar Shards and half the Lunar Shards are 'untainted'.
• There are closer to sixty thousand Dragon-Blooded, all told. The overwhelmingly vast majority of these reside on the Blessed Isle, and the overwhelming majority of those not loyal to the Realm are either of Lookshy or the Forest Witches.
• The Chimerae are their own Exalt type, corrupted by the Wyld the way Abyssals are corrupted by the Labyrinth. About half of all Lunar Shards are ancient Chimerae.
• Spirit-Blooded of any sort do not Exalt into Celestials, though some with distant blood might have minor, cosmetic mutations and still Exalt. Exaltation as a Dragon-Blooded is still possible.

• There are additional branches of the Terrestrial Exalted, based on their primary Virtue, which also gives them a 'secondary' Element. This grants them some additional abilities as well as adding to their flavor:
  • Judges - Temperance. The Judges are meant to oversee and dispense laws to mortals.
  • Curates - Compassion. The Curates are expected to guide and aid mortals directly.
  • Reapers - Conviction. The Reapers are the executioners. They are meant to stalk stray mortals, and purge the weak.
  • Warriors - Valor. The footsoldiers of the Exalted, the Warrior's place is on the battlefield.

• And likewise with the Celestial Exalted, though there's no 'secondary element'. It does, however, function much like a secondary Caste.
  • Champions - Valor
  • Hierophants - Compassion
  • Justiciars - Temperance
  • Slayers - Conviction
• The purpose of this change is to add an additional degree of variety to characters. It works a bit better when there are truly only, at most, about four other people like you in Creation, instead of sixty.

The Magical Materials

• Adamant is considered a magical material.
• Another one is added, called Dreamsilver, used by Chimerae.
• True Soulsteel is separated from Banal soulsteel
• Only the Celestial Exalted and certain powerful beings (the Deathlords, the Incarna, and others) may use the Celestial Materials to their fullest extent.
• There are a few additional types of Jade, that lesser beings may make use of.
  • Yellow Jade is the lesser version of Orichalcum, and is the 'favored aspect' of Dragon Kings and Golden Children.
  • Violet Jade is the base form of Starmetal. Certain odd behemoths and Sidereal Half-Caste make use of it.
  • Clear Jade is what is most commonly called Adamant, though it is not the true material.
  • Ash Jade is more commonly called Banal Soulsteel, and unlike the other jade varieties, has a dull, ashen appearance. Its nature is still unmistakable, however. It is the favored 'Jade' of Ghosts and other beings of the Underworld.
  • Silver Jade is the jade of Moonsilver, though it appears less metallic than its true brethren. It is the favored Jade of beastmen.
  • Cyan Jade is of Dreamsilver. It is the favored jade of many Wyld-Twisted creatures.
• Except for Ash Jade, these jade variants are made by the 'poisoning' of other jade supplies by gold, silver, the Wyld, Adamant, and meteorite deposites (making Violet Jade about as rare as Starmetal). They grant the same magical material bonuses to beings of sufficient ability to channel Essence as jade.

Populations

1. The Mountain Folk have only about a thousand Enlightened. This number grows slowly as the proper jade segments are found for a new Enlightened to be crafted, but that is the limit of them - lifting the Great Geas will not aid their numbers, though it will let them achieve Essence 6 and a few other benefits. They are divided into six closely allied nations, governing over a billion unEnlightened. Their are only two main Castes, Upper and Lower, but the Lower is greatly subdivided according to role.
2. Autocthonia is a bit more populous, having about sixty million people.
3. The Underworld and the Shadowlands have a combined mortal population of about ten million.
4. The West has about thirty million people, the North eighty million, the south a hundred and twenty million, the East about seven hundred million, and the Blessed Isle five hundred million.
5. About one person in a thousand is one of the many types of Spirit-Blooded, or one and a half million all told.
6. About one in a hundred possess an Essence of 2 - nearly all of them mortal thaumaturges.

Miscellanious Changes

1. To clarify, there are 25 hours in a day, 7 days a week (Sun's Day, Moon's Day, Mars' Day, Mercury's Day, Jupiter's Day, Venus' Day, Saturn's Day), four weeks a month, three months a season (Ascending, Risen, Descending), and five seasons a year (Air, Water, Earth, Wood, Fire), with the year ending with five days of Calibration.
2. Fire is the hottest season, culminating in the dangerous heights reached in Descending Fire. Then Calibration begins, bringing five days of moonless night. The heat quickly turns to cold, difficult to bear even in the deserts of the South, and then Ascending Air begins - the coldest month of the year.
3. Demesnes are a lot more common. One per 50 square miles, or so, with an average level of 2. Geomancy can bring these -very- close together.