Exalted Volume One

An Exalted 2e game, featuring Alex, Jeremy, Meagan, and Katie. Directed by Patrick.

It is the beginning of the first decade since the Scarlet Empress' disappearance, and while tensions mount in the Realm, those on the periphery breathe a cautious sigh of relief. Normally a thorn in the Realm's side, the region of Ahm, retitled Hammerfall by the Empire, has begun to prosper without the back-breaking taxes and constant raids levied by the Realm. The Free Port of Nexus has begun to challenge what little remains of the Empire's war machine. Hidden away in this region is a secret: a Sidereal-maintained Dojo offering protection to the nascent Solars. Already, it has begun calling out to them in dreams, coincidences, and omens, drawing those in its web closer, leading them into a great adventure.

Campaign Storyline

Episode 1: In the tenth year of the Scarlet Empress' disappearance, an elder Sidereal named Mei Feng (Last Guardian) and a mortal follower named Little Mercy set up a secret temple in a remote valley of Hammerfall, and Mei Feng performed a great working on the loom of fate to draw nascent solars to him, all in order to prevent "a great catastrophe". Before the Solars could arrive, however, Mei Feng was poisoned and killed, and a gem containing his memories stolen. The Solars arrived, learned something of the events facing them, and killed one of their own number, a Sidereal spy named Ahn-Aru. Finally, as the group experimented with the Seven-By-Seven League Step Ring, they ended up lost somewhere in Creation.

Episode 2: Struggling to find two missing members, (Jaochim and his Sensei having been flung in a different direction while the group experimented with the ring,) the Solar circle visit a number of outposts of civilization in the wild lands between Hammerfall and Nexus: Caravan Town, a large Carnivale operated by the guild that constantly moves, Broken Wheel, a poor but busy trading hub, and the Humble Waters Manse, a powerful fortress-farm near Hammerfall. In the Sapphire Pagoda, they meet the Sworn Brotherhood of Hammerfall, and are embarrasingly poisoned by their Realm "betters". They learn that whatever great catastrophe is coming, it is already causing waves within the spirit world, as Omen Dogs and Broken Promise spirits are beginning to run wild throughout the region. After stopping an attack by undead inhabiting the Caravan Town's Yeddim, the characters return to Falcon's Aerie and decide to return to Nexus, hoping to tap Descending Moon's contacts for more information about what the catastrophe might be.

Episode 3: Nexus, however, ends up having its own problems: a Sorcerer calling himself Bagrim Tol has bound a number of angry fire elementals to the city's foundries, and as the Solars arrive, they begin to escape their bonds and visit revenge on the mortals. Fighting off the fire elementals and rescuing the city ends up leaving Anathema taking the blame for the whole mess, which may not be entirely inaccurate, given the warning that a Lunar Exalted named Gri-Fel was behind the terrorism.

Episode 3.5: The Assembly calls for the Architects of Peace to uphold the covenant between man and demon, releasing the Emissary to ensure the smooth functioning of the city and pursuit of those responsible for the arsons, while the rest of the group holes up and heals in the home of Moon's Demonic mentor and sifu, Unkaduben. Fearing discovery by the Assembly, the circle flees back to the Aerie.

Episode 4: In the Aerie, Sousa becomes adamant that the group hunt and kill The Climbosaur, a terrible beast that has only been glimpsed for generations. The group does so, tracking it with a returned Jaochim, and discover the Climbosaur to be a hideous, wyld-tainted mutant. Its carcass is stripped inexpertly, and the cancerous remains are launched into the heart of Hammerfall as a first strike by the circle against their Dragon-Blooded oppressors. (Sousa: This is the Best Day Ever.) Later, seeking to use the skin of Climbosaur to buy supplies, or at the very least fashion it into something useful, the group travels to Hammerfall, only to be hijacked and escorted into the central manse by the Sworn Brotherhood, who are suspicious of the group's nature.

Core Group

• Gentle Lily, Zenith Caste Deathkiller Priestess (played by Alex)
• Descending Moon, Eclipse Ninja Bureaucrat (played by Meagan)
• Wodnir, Night Caste Cavalryman and Smuggler (played by Jeremy)

Falcon's Aerie

The Falcon's Aerie is the central point of the chronicle: as game opens, the PCs have been drawn here by the web of Fate to solve the mystery of how the former Sidereal sifu of the temple was killed, and why he brought the Solars here in the first place. Maintained by the sifu's only apprentice, the Aerie is the main territory for the Solars of the area. The Falcon's Aerie also houses the Seven By Seven League Step Ring, which allows the characters to travel from the temple to any location within 49 miles with but a single bound.

• Little Mercy, monk of the Cult of the Illuminated
• Paulus, former Paladin of Tobermaori, a Rogue Terrestrial God
• Sousa, pubescent assassin and bodyguard
• Jaochim, a powerful Southern Martial Artist and Dark Butterfly Warrior
• Jaochim's Sensei, a crazy runty old man
• Mei Feng, Former Sidereal Sifu

Port Nexus

The last free port in Hammerfall, Nexus is a sprawling and largely brutal pirate haven with a draconian enforcer called the Emissary. As the Realm's soldiers reduce their efforts, mercenary groups from Nexus have begun to serve as the new armed forces, creating hostilities between them and those Imperials still left in Hammerfall.

• The Assembly, an underground council of Demons that dictates punishment for those who violate the rules of Nexus
• The Architects of Peace, the bureaucracy dedicated to preventing anything from troubling the Assembly,
• Unkaduben, a Spider-Ninja demon who is seperate of the Assembly, and mentor to Moon.
• The Emissary, enforcer of the Assembly, and the current ruling body of Port Nexus

Hammerfall

Despite the Scavenger Lands' best efforts to remove them during the first Scavenger War, the Realm seized and held on to the great fortress-city of Hammerfall. With the loss of the Tepet legions against the Bull of the North, and continuing attrition of their current military forces, the Realm is a scattered skeleton crew holding onto the satrapy by a thread.

• Cathak Chiana, Peleps Telos, Ledaal Aori, Cynis Litya - a Sworn Brotherhood of Dragonblooded adventurers
• Cynis Danielle and Cynis Bane, Satraps of Hammerfall

Other Noteworthy People and Places

The area covered by the Falcon Aerie's Seven by Seven League Step Ring covers five thousand square kilometers. Naturally, there's much to see and do for an Exalted circle. Most of these locations are marked on the Ring's map

• The Shattergraves, a large Shadowland with two major cities dominated by the Eye and Seven Despairs, and the Winterknights, a gang of Deathknights.
  • Shatters Songs With Diamonds, Ringleader
  • Typhon, "Executioner of Crusades"
• The Emerald and Ruby Concordat, the Forest Shrine of the Tree God Pell.
• The Ruins of Lost Way, a former First Age city fallen to ruin, overrun by Wyld creatures.
• Caravan Town, a roving carnival operated by the shadowy Guild, but the most important luxury for small towns and villages in Hammerfall
• Broken Wheel, a trading outpost located in the wilds of Hammerfall
• The Sapphire Pagoda, home of the Waters family.
• Gilette, a Fey, and The Queen of Blades' magic pool, a Wyld-tainted canyon that serves as an outpost for the organization.
• Shrine to Those in the Clearing, a cave that holds the city's dead and the popular Ancestor Cult of Mortuus
• The Great Wreck, a first age ship that may still hold secrets.
• The Whispers, the woods belonging to the ahm-ne-tang, Beastmen and barbarians.
• The 'Waster, a shadowland beach
• The Dragon Keep, an underwater manse deep in the Inside Sea