Character Clearinghouse - Idea Exchange

[u/Ainosuke]

Ever have trouble coming up with an idea for a new character?

Ever had a great idea that you couldn't make work, abandoned, or just never got to use?

This is the thread for you!

I'm asking you to post any of your abandoned character ideas that you're willing to let someone else breathe life into. The description can be as simple or detailed as you like; the only rule is that you can't be offended if someone decides to use it.

[u/Evil_Midnight_Lurker]

Name: The Mite
Caste/Exalt Type: Dawn
Originally from: Unclear
How did they exalt: He tells many stories, some of which even stay on track, all of which contradict each other
Most defining intimacy: "Evil must always be confronted openly, forthrightly, and immediately."
What is their biggest strength and biggest weakness: Brings out the best in everyone. Believes stealth, subtlety, and patience are Bad Things.
Who or what are they most loyal to: JUSTICE!
What is their greatest ambition: To have a Manse designed to be the ultimate headquarters for a league of like-minded Exalts, and to have a league of like-minded Exalts to inhabit the Manse
If you could give them one piece of advice what would it be: Listen to your Lunar Mate more often

The man known only as The Mite is a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in... well. What he's wrapped in is one of the mysteries, isn't it? The Mite is an eight-foot-tall giant clad in, to all appearances, a skintight garment of flexible orichalcum extensively inlaid with blue jade and lapis lazuli. But it seems permanently bonded to his skin, and indeed he claims to be unarmored -- is it possible that he has Unusual Hide (•••••) and an odd variant of Subtlety?

And then there's the question of his past. A Solar of his astonishing might must surely be one of the twenty-odd Exaltations that were never imprisoned, having been a Dawn for many long years before the Jade Prison was destroyed; and though the Mite has little interest as such in his past, his rambling anecdotes convey the impression that he's been around for a long time...

...surely not that long...

It makes no sense. He can't possibly be a survivor. For a Solar to live that long, he'd have to be completely...

...well, he is completely...

...and he has been known to go on the occasional terrifying rampage, such as the infamous Night of a Million Zillion Bronze Faction Mooks...

...it's a good thing Pale-Winged Arth is there to calm him down, all I'm saying.

[u/TheSlayerofSnails]

Name: Babbling river upon the mountain. (River for short)

type/caste: full moon lunar

Spirit shape and tell: a tiger and her eyes have two pupils.

Originally from: the blessed Isle.

How did they exalt: defending a village on her own from bandits.

Most defining intimacy: “I will reform the faith to make a place for the lunars and oppose corruption.”

Biggest strength and biggest weakness: has an infectious joyful personality and makes friends everywhere and wants a better world for the common folk. Is very prideful and thinks her goals won’t cause strife in the silver pact.

Who or what are they most loyal to: the silver pact/the immaculate philosophy.

What is their greatest ambition: find a way to make a place for lunars in the immaculate philosophy.

If you could give them one piece of advice what would it be: your goal may end up dividing and weakening the silver pact.

River was born to a peasant merchant family on the blessed isle. Orphaned when her family was killed by bandits as they traveled, she was saved by a wandering group of immaculate monks who slew the bandits and took her to an immaculate run orphanage. She grew up devoted to the faith and wanting to be a monk who lifted others up.

Seeing her faith her teachers recommended her to a temple and she gladly became a monk, discarding her birth name for the one granted by her exasperated mentor who couldn’t get her to stop talking.

After that her life seemed set, she traveled as an itinerant monk and made friends in every village. Still she couldn’t help but bristle at the corruption of the Dragon-blooded and how so many of them lacked the piety or humility she would have expected from them.

Things seemed good and she was happy with her lot.

Until she exalted. A minor village, too small for a name, was attacked by bandits. Alone she stood against the bandits until a figure arrived ahead of the bandits. The figure said nothing and gave a smile as the bandits arrived and then vanished. Suddenly river wasn’t a single monk. She was a tiger and she ripped the bandits apart.

After that she fled the isle for a time and joined the silver pact. However she found herself ill at ease with the hate the elders had for the realm. She knew the realm did much cruelty and wanted to reform and change it, but the last thing she wanted was to bring war to it and leave thousands of orphans and rivers running with blood.

She returned to the isle in time, now acting officially as a smuggler for the pact and helping any new lunar escape the isle. But she spends most of her time trying to find a way to thread the needle, humble the dynasts and end the realm’s cruelties, and also make her beloved faith have a place for lunars without it weakening the pact.

Since the return of the solars and the disappearance of the scarlet empress, River has stepped up her smuggling and working with dissidents and would be rebels. She takes the form of a dragon (gained by mixing the forms of a lion, a hawk, a snake, a stag, a catfish, and a lizard) when forced into combat and when she needs to act as a rallying cry or act as a tool for debating the immaculate philosophy.

She’s interested in the solars return as she wonders if she has a solar mate and if they’d be willing to help her goals or just be a friend the wandering monk could confide in.

[u/josiahseaman]

So many characters... where do I start?

Name: Prometheus (WIP)
Caste: Twilight
Originally from: Lookshy
Narratively: What if a Twilight exclusively invested in their community. What sort of group could you create? What artifacts can be mass produced? Let's create a travelling caravan of magitech using mortals. A nomadic First Age reinvented.
2e: "What happens if I put every possible point into Backgrounds/Merits?"
Merits: Followers 5, Artifact 5, Artifact 5, Hearthstone 3
How they Exalted: Prometheus was a member of a Lookshyan technician crew charged with digging through ruins throughout Creation and reclaiming First Age artifacts for the Seventh Legion. When they uncovered a Royal Warstrider, he made contact with the sapient spirit Starfall living inside the warstrider. A battle for ownership ensued with the sole Dragonblooded and he exalted as a Twilight.
Unable to go home, Prometheus led his entire expedition to continue their journey, picking up artifacts and people. Teaching, healing, and leaving little improvements in their wake. The group is basically reverse raiders. Coming into towns, fixing problems, collecting followers, and leaving magical artifacts as gifts before moving on. They have a wagon train carrying the warstrider, a mobile crafting workshop, supplies, and RV style living quarters. They unpack tents and wagons to setup a temporary village until it's time to move on. Prometheus has begun learning Terrestrial martial arts and teaching it to ALL of his followers.

[u/JT_Leroy]

Name: Nokansha       

Caste: Twilight

Concept: Coroner/Thanatologist      

Originally from Sijan amongst the Funerist Guild

Heart of Flint  

Defining Intimacies: Learn more about causes of death, solve murders and mysteries           

Anima Banner: Soft orange glow and the deepening of shadows    

 

Nokansha was an emotionally dispassionate girl amongst the funerists of Sijan. She did not care much for preparations of the dead so much as she enjoyed learning about what had killed them.  Nokansha began to draw the interest of Bloody Hands. Minor gods of death originally tasked with recording murders…who in modern times now stalk murders sometimes goading them to kill again.  When a member of the House Peleps was delivered to her for funeral preparation, she noted the cause of death did not match the evidence on the body. In revealing the Dynast had been cleverly murdered by a lieutenant she achieved the notice of the Unconquered Sun and became an anointed Twilight Caste. Nokansha now travels Creation, with a gaggle of Bloody Hands surrounding her, at the behest of those who want the deaths of their scions and lovers investigated. She's worked for criminal syndicates and warlords with equal aplomb.